Fresno man with rare brain-defect hopes to inspire others with Christmas display

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- You've heard of Christmas Tree Lane and Candy Cane Lane, but at a house in northeast Fresno, you'll find Nick and his bag full of tricks.

No, not Saint Nick, but Nick Funk.

"I'm not a fan of dark houses in December," said Nick.

The 20-year-old has spent months working on this Christmas display at his home on Fallbrook Avenue.

He's determined to make his home another festive Fresno landmark.

"I usually start around Halloween, and then it carries on to Thanksgiving, and then starting Christmas, I start to add just so much more stuff."

He is constantly curating his collection and always striving for perfection.

"Every day, every day of every hour," said Nick. "I'm out here fixing stuff, changing stuff and adding stuff. I love it; it's amazing."

"He's really not super excited with the system he has this year, and he's looking forward to next year because there's one he has his mind on where he can coordinate lights and music even better," said Tricia Funk, Nick's mom.

Mom, Tricia, said he's been doing this for about 6 years. Nick comes up with the design, and his dad hangs the lights.

Her son has a condition that makes processing information difficult, but Tricia said his creativity knows no bounds.

"He has a condition called Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum, and basically, that means he was born without the bridge of his brain," said Tricia. "The brain has to re-route itself to figure things out, but because he has that, he is strictly a right-brain or left-brain, and because of that, certain things make him really happy. He gets really excited about certain things."

Nick's passion has taken hold of the street neighbors who never used to put up Christmas lights now decorate their homes.

"It feels amazing," said Nick. "It's just like, this neighborhood, it's just been dark, and that's not really what the Christmas spirit is all about. We just started decorating. Now, this neighborhood just looks amazing."

Year after year spreading joy to the neighborhood and one day beyond.

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