On this Christmas Eve Tuesday, one lucky lottery ticket could celebrate with a Mega Millions jackpot nearing $1 billion. That is the largest prize ever offered in the month of December.

With no one winning the jackpot Friday, the grand price for Tuesday’s drawing ballooned from $862 million to $970 million according to the lottery.

A jackpot winner in Tuesday’s drawing could choose to receive the money in annuitized payments or take a lump sum estimated at $439.9 million.

As lottery players imagine all the possibilities, one lucky person has stepped forward with the winning ticket for a huge jackpot that went unclaimed for nine months. The anonymous winner of $1.12 billion jackpot from March opted for a cash payout that totaled $537 million before taxes.