The search for a ceramic Christmas tree led Sharon Frizzell of Canton to a $200,000 lottery win.

“I’ve wanted one of these trees for years,” Frizzell said. “I finally found one, so I sent my husband to the consignment store to pick it up.”

On the way, he stopped by the Time Out Market on Sulpher Springs Road in Waynesville and bought a $5 Mega Bucks scratch-off ticket.

“He said he needed to tell me something when he got home,” Frizzell said. “All I could think was, ‘You better not have broken my Christmas tree’”.

The tree was in one piece. Instead, he told her he had an early Christmas gift in the form of a winning lottery ticket.

“I was so excited,” Frizzell said. “I got goose bumps and started sweating when I looked at the ticket.”

Frizzell claimed the prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $139,003. While she and her husband plan to invest most of the money, there will be something extra under the tree this year.

“My husband doesn’t know it yet,” Frizzell said. “But he’s going to get me a pair of diamond earrings for Christmas.”

Ticket sales from instant games like Mega Bucks make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $600 million a year for education. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.