County Road 14 is a short, two-lane stretch of nothing much, but Aunt Connie was about to change that. With a barn full of decorations she bought from a nearby city council, and free labor in Uncle Johnny, she decides to surprise her family with a grand, Thanksgiving-night Christmas light illumination.

The month-long preparation for the unveiling is the backdrop for not one, but two unexpected Christmas gifts.

Set in a time when stores didn’t stock holiday decorations until after Thanksgiving and long before over-the-top Christmas light displays became commonplace, Aunt Connie’s Old-Fashioned, New-Fangled, Electric-Powered, County Road Christmas is a love letter to my Fortenberry family that pays homage to faith, family, devotion and the power of a big idea.