You know you scored the best deal at a garage sale when...

When you're walking down the street and people are coming up to you and offering your twice the amount you paid for your new treasure.

And here it is:

I've been on the hunt for a silver tinsel 3-ft tall Christmas tree for years. Literally years. I've looked at pre-Christmas sales, Christmas sales and post Christmas sales. I've looked online. I've looked in year round Christmas stores. And nothing. They were either too tall. Or entirely too expensive.

But not this one. I found it at the third house of the annual Bigelow St. neighborhood yard sale in the Queen Anne neighborhood. It was in the back. And the teenage son wasn't quite awake yet. The original $50 price tag was still on it, but nothing else. I asked him how much. He looked at it like he didn't know what it was. He uttered:

"I dunno, $7, $8?" as several other women looked on.

"How about $7?" I said as I handed him the cash and hoped his mother didn't see what he was selling this gem for. Then I high-tailed it out of there before she came outside.

All day, everyone kept asking about the tree. Several other people I passed offered to pay more for the tree, including others holding their own yard sales.

It's like Christmas came early this year for me.