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observations, musings and miscellany from an unapologetic sentimentalist.
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Aunt Connie's Old-Fashioned, New-Fangled, Electric-Powered, County Road Christmas
"Aunt Connie's" is a love letter to my Fortenberry family. Part memoir, part fiction, "Aunt Connie's" is centered on County Road 14, 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 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" homage to faith, family, devotion and the power of a big idea.
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My
Story
I am a husband, a dad, grad student, storyteller, writer and follower of Jesus who has had the fortune of writing professionally for a living my entire adult life, which is pretty amazing, considering my dad never learned to read or write. I grew up dirt poor, figured out that education was the key to improving my life, and learned to cut, perm, color and style hair right to pay my way through college. It worked like a charm. (Read my "Dear Sandy" blog post to learn more about that story.) I have worked as a sportswriter, news reporter, news editor and columnist, and I'm in my third decade of working in public relations. Since 2019, I have focused my efforts on writing novels. Lint Head was published in 2024 by St. Matthew's Press. Aunt Connie's Old-Fashioned, New-Fangled, Electric-Powered, County Road Christmas published in November 2025, also by St. Matthew's Press.
“So, what do you do when you ain’t got nothing and nowhere to go? You want your daddy, don’t you? You want to go home, and that’s exactly what that boy did."
Aunt Connie's Old-Fashioned, New-Fangled, Electric-Powered, County Road Christmas,
by Bill Fortenberry
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