SAN MARCOS, Calif. — Christmas on Knob Hill in San Marcos has become a tradition for thousands of people to drive or walk and see the dazzling lights, which have been on display for the last 36 years.
If you stand outside 1639 Knob Hill Road in San Marcos as soon as it gets dark, you will quickly start to see cars drive by, or people walk by, wondering why the light display isn’t up this year.
Instead of the winter wonderland, people are met with a sign that tells people the owner of the home had an unexpected surgery and wouldn’t be able to put the lights up this year.
“I get so much satisfaction out of doing that, to see that I can make people that happy,” said Bill Gilfillen, the mastermind behind the usual display.
“It’s a lot of fun. I enjoy doing it so much, and I feel really sad that I couldn’t do it this year,” he added.
Bill Gilfillen has been called Mr. Christmas for decades, and this year is recovering from two recent spine surgeries and a knee surgery, which forced him to rest.
“I’m 85 years old now, and I’ll be 86 in January, but I feel like I’m 32,” he said. In fact, he said it was doctor’s orders to not put up the display.
“All the people at Scripps had seen the display, and so he knew what I had done for decorating, and he said, ‘I just don’t think you should do it this year.’ And so I said, ‘Well, you’re the surgeon and I don’t want to come back in here again,”‘ he laughed.
“I feel like it’s just a big missing part of the Christmas tradition for many families. So it definitely wont feel the same without it,” said Cheyenne Esguerra, who lives nearby. She is used to walking by with her family and friends each year.
The light display usually has tens of thousands of lights.
“He’s, you know, the local legend.” Gilfillen’s next door neighbor Jose Navarro said.
“We actually had a few neighbors within a 4 block radius and a few brother-in-laws had the idea of doing it,” Navarro said. “But we also took his health into consideration because he would have to also entertain.” While they reluctantly decided it was not in his best interest to do the display for him, so many of the neighbors wanted to help.
“It made me realize what a wonderful neighborhood I live in,” Gilfillen said. “The community has just been wonderful, everyone comes by and asks if they can help, and I’m hardheaded.”
Now, Navarro said he had to make sure his house was decorated to make up for it this year, but said it could never compete with the one and only “Mr. Christmas.”
Gilfillen said he is counting down to September 2, when he will start setting up the lights next year.
“I’ll continue to do this as long as I can, as long as I can climb a ladder. And when I can’t, I’ll direct someone else to climb a ladder,” he laughed.
Despite a pause during the pandemic, where Gilfillen only put up one decoration, this is the first year the house has been without any decor. But not for long. In true “Mr. Christmas” fashion, he said he couldn’t let the year go by. Instead of digging decor out of the shed, which is put away methodically, this year he said he decided to go to the store to buy a few small displays to put up.
Gilfillen said the reason he started decorating his home 36 years ago was because he grew up driving around with his family to see Christmas lights, and he told his mom as a young boy that he wanted to make other people happy with his own light display. And that’s exactly what he’s done for three decades and counting.