Christmas Miracle

The Holiday season is long associated with tales of the miraculous. Whether its tales of St. Nicholas or tales from faith, this Christmas, Steven Giovanazzi of Pingree is a believer.

"I felt God was mad at me," Steven started his story about how he became a big Idaho Lottery winner. "To make me feel better about that, my wife suggested we head to Pocatello and make some donations to charity. So, we did. On our way home, we needed gas for the truck, so we stopped at a store in Chubbuck. I told my wife I had a feeling I needed to buy a lottery ticket."

The couple stopped at the Stinker Store located on Pheasant Ridge and Hiline in Chubbuck. Once inside the store, Steven made a deliberate choice about which Scratch ticket to play. He picked out and purchased a couple of the $5 Merry 7s. While this game features Santa proudly standing before a giant seven, that was not the reason for choosing it. "Seven was Jesus' number, so I picked that game,"

"We celebrated an event on Saturday at my church, to coincide with the re-opening of the Cathedral of Norte Dame in Paris," explained the purple heart recipient and Vietnam Veteran.

That was also the day he played and won the top prize of $77,777 on his Merry 7s Scratch ticket.

On the following Monday, Steven visited the Idaho Lottery offices and claimed his $77,777 prize from winning Merry 7s.

And while he was waiting for his check, Steven played the vending machine in the Lottery's lobby. He bought ten tickets and won $134 total from seven of them.

As he left, he said he did not have immediate plans for his winnings other than to visit St. John's Cathedral in downtown Boise to pay his respects.

And yes, Steven, Christmas miracles do happen.