Lights and Ribbons

Bill and Lucille Endriss’ holiday decor is full of festivity

  • Bill and Lucille Endriss’ Church Street home is well lit during the holidays, thanks to the amount of lights that Bill hangs up every year. “We’ve been married 52 years, and he’s been decorating for 52 years,” Lucille said. “It just gets bigger and bigger.” (Ty Johnston/The Oglethorpe Echo)
    Bill and Lucille Endriss’ Church Street home is well lit during the holidays, thanks to the amount of lights that Bill hangs up every year. “We’ve been married 52 years, and he’s been decorating for 52 years,” Lucille said. “It just gets bigger and bigger.” (Ty Johnston/The Oglethorpe Echo)

    Bill and Lucille Endriss bring holiday happiness to Lexington’s historic district during the season. Their 124-year-old Church Street home stands out, adorned with festive lights, ribbons and a beautiful manger scene — touches that add a special charm to the street’s holiday spirit.

     

    “I enjoy making people happy, and I think we do make people laugh and say hello,” Bill said.

     

    Vintage Victorian 

    The Victorian home, located on 2 acres, served as a senior living facility before the Endrisses bought it in 2014. The holiday decor makeover makes use of the architectural style, as the Victorian-style posts serve as a perfect spot for string lights. 


    Along with the lights, the couple replaces ferns with holly greenery that brings the Christmas spirit with a pop of red. 

     

    “That would be the old-fashioned touch,” Bill said. 

     

    Lucille delights in the crisp scent of fresh holly, appreciating its seasonal fragrance and the sense of nostalgia.

     

    “When you read old stuff from 150 years ago, they mainly decorated with greens,” Lucille said. 

     

    Teamwork and Tradition

    The Lexington couple splits their decorating jobs: Bill decorates outside and Lucille inside. 

     

    The couple has added decorations from their parents over the years. Lucille’s parents gifted Bill with C9 lights that have big bulbs after noticing that Bill liked to decorate, she said. Every strand of lights used to decorate the home is checked to ensure they work before putting them up. 

     

    Each post is wrapped in strands of lights, creating a festive and inviting atmosphere that adds a glow to the exterior. The couple describes their abundance of outdoor lights as a “Griswold” style, referencing the movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” 

     

    Lucille also contributes to the outdoor decor with reusable ribbons on the porch posts. 

     

    “I have big ribbons that I've made into bows — wide ribbon — and I put a fancy bow on each one,” said Lucille.

     

    Preserving the Past

    Lucille decorates her home with the history in mind. Five of the six original mantels were taken out of the home.

     

    “All of the mantles had been taken out of this house,” Lucille said. “But then we had to go to restoration places and salvage yards, and so on, to find mantles to replace them.”

     

    The replacement mantels are from different antique stores and salvage yards. Her favorite is favorite and the dearest to her is the marble one located in her library. 

     

    Special items on the mantel include the vintage manger scene her husband gifted her in 1972. Lucille said she cherishes the scene because it serves as a heartfelt reminder of the humble birthplace of Jesus.