TERRELL HILLS, Texas — After the gifts have been unwrapped and the leftovers put away, there is still one staple of the season left to indulge: taking a drive and looking at all the decorations.
A house that's been drawing attention in Terrell Hills has a story behind it stretching back generations.
Standing in a bright red jacket in front of the house on Terrell Rd on Friday, the homeowner offered, one by one, to take people’s pictures with their families.
“I’m Dick Tips,” he introduced himself to one of them.
“That’s a name,” is what he got in response.
Tips laughed in agreement.
“That’s a name, you’ll never forget that one,” he said. “It was like, ‘A Boy Named Sue."
Around Christmastime in Terrell Hills, Tips becomes a bit of a celebrity.
"They outdid their selves," Leonor Soria said, referring to the Christmas lights on Tips’ home.
“We came, and we just pulled out our phones and started videoing,” said her sister Isabella Soria. “It was just amazing,"
Tips often comes out in colorful holiday attire to greet the stream of cars and passers-by that come to see his house.
He said he’s been putting up Christmas decorations for 68 years, Taking up the tradition with his father Fred Tips.
"When I say I've been doing it since I was three years old, it's all I've ever known," he said.
Tips is so enthusiastic about Christmas and decorating, he couldn't stop at his own house - offering to light up his neighbor's trees as well. As big as the display is now, he still keeps little reminders of the past, like the hand-made miniature church that serves as the centerpiece of his display.
“If you look at the interior of it, you'll see the amount of detail that you put inside.”
He pointed out a few other items including a Santa and sleigh with a full set of wood-carved reindeer and the sleigh-shaped seat people had been using for pictures
“All that was created by my father," he said.
As the owner of Mission Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, he said keeping the past alive is a part of his business he's happy to share with the community
He said caring for the older pieces in the display is a way to feel connected with his father since he passed.
"Very, very connected to my father, and hopefully a lot of families feel the same way,” he said. “And they, you know, continue to use it in their Christmas cards and in the memories that they have in the past and the memories that they're creating for the future."