Patricia Higgins had an exciting Christmas Day, and it wasn't just because of the snow. The Corpus Christi resident matched five numbers in the Mega Millions lottery.
"I don't play all the time, but on the holidays I'll splurge," Higgins, 54, said. "I bought about $40 (in tickets)."
That splurge netted her $175,000, which she has placed in a money market account, a low-interest rate saving account.
"I'm just sitting on it," she said. "It has made life a little easier."
Higgins, a mother of five and grandmother to nine, said she had been watching children play in the snow when she grabbed a cup of coffee and turned on the television to see how much snow had fallen.
"I saw the numbers scrolling on the bottom of the screen and remembered I bought tickets," she said. "I won $158 from a scratch off so I thought maybe I'll get lucky since I did so well on the scratch off."
She said she realized she had matched five numbers but she wasn't sure exactly what that would mean to her pocketbook.
"I knew I'd won at least $25,000 but I wasn't sure," she said. "My husband (David Higgins) knew though."
She said her family was as stunned as she was about the win.
"They were just really excited, happy and kind of stunned," she said.
Higgins said one of her sons is an officer for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and when she phoned him to tell him the news he thought his father was playing a joke on him.
"What an exciting way to spend the holiday weekend," Reagan E. Greer, executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission said in a released statement. "Congratulations to Mrs. Higgins and I'm very happy to hear what a wonderful Christmas she said she had."
Despite Higgins' win, no one got the Mega Ball along with all five numbers. The jackpot for tonight's Mega Millions is an estimated $48 million.
Higgins said she isn't upset about not getting all the numbers, she is just pleased with what she did receive.
"I've been blessed all my life and it just seems like He keeps on blessing me," Higgins said.
God I would love to hit 5 #'s!
Congrats to her; she seems like she deserved the win. Kudos
Now where are all the complainers who usually cry how only people in the Northeast win all the prizes all the time? Their silence is deafening.