Vicki Knight

Like several rooms in Vicki Knight’s house, her Christmas decorations, done annually by Amy Wood and Deborah McAfee, beautifully compliment her passion for hunting.

Story and photos by David Moore

You’re not in Vicki Knight’s house long before you realize she loves to hunt and proudly displays an amazing assortment of trophies she’s taken. It’s a passion she got from her father, whose stamp can be seen as soon as you step in the front door and onto the zebra rugs he gave Vicki.

Mounted on the walls of her living room are trophies from a South African safari she took with her father and son, Josh. Among them are a kudu, a water buck and blesbok, for which she won a gold award from the Safari Club International.

Upstairs in Vicki’s office are mounted trophies from hunts in New Zealand. Among them are a red stag she took on North Island and a Himalayan tahr from the South Island.

If you visit Vicki Knight’s house north of Cullman at this time of year, you know immediately that she loves Christmas. And whereas she has her father to thank for her hunting prowess, she will quickly tell you that Amy Wood and her mother, Deborah McAfee, get all the credit for “decking the halls.”

“Amy started in early November decorating for the holidays,” Vicki says.

Amy has been house decorating for Vicki about 10 years and doing her Christmas decorating with Deborah for at least five.

“They are so creative,” she says of the daughter/mom team. “They do something different every year. That makes it a lot of fun.”

Vicki was raised in Birmingham where she graduated from high school. There was never any question she’d go to college anywhere but Mississippi State. Vicki is a fourth generation Bulldog; Josh made it five. Her parents met there and a great-great uncle helped start the dairy science program at Mississippi State.

“I was born with a with a cowbell in my hand,” she laughs.

Vicki started in landscape architecture, but her first engineering course made her reconsider. Instead, she majored in marketing with an emphasis on advertising, graduating at the top of her class.

“It was a good fit for me,” Vicki says.

Back in Birmingham she worked in advertising for a time. Marriage brought her to Cullman in the mid-1980s, and Josh was born here in 1989.

He graduated from Cullman High in 2007. Meanwhile, Vicki had returned to school at the University of North Alabama, where she earned her MBA, also in 2007.

After her dad retired from his career job, he started Potential Enterprises, doing

business consulting in mainly the fields of management and marketing. Vicki works as his administrative VP, doing financial and research work, mostly from home.

“I enjoy it,” she says.

In 2008, Vicki built a house for her and Josh on a lake. It has a distinctive European flair and a looped drive of river rock.

She worked with a Birmingham designer to tweak the plans to her liking. One unique addition – her dad’s suggestion – was placing a Bible in the foundation forms before filling them with concrete. “It was a fun project,” she says. “It’s a great neighborhood. I love the area and love living on the lake.”

Meanwhile, while studying political science at Auburn University, Josh “became an item” with Amy, a student he met there. After earning his first degree, he went to MSU for a degree in sports administration while Amy earned a law degree from Cumberland.

They married in 2020 and Josh is an insurance broker in the Atlanta area where Amy works as an attorney.

Vicki’s dad started hunting seriously in the early 1980s, going on safaris and major hunts around the world.

“Hunters are the best conservationists,” Vicki says. “People don’t always realize that.

“When Josh became old enough, we thought a safari would be fun as a family trip,” she continues. So when he was 10, they packed up for South Africa.

“Africa is amazing,” she says. “You could hear lions roaring at night. Sunset was amazing. It felt like you were on the edge of the world – there was the sun, then it would just disappear.”

While Africa was fun, her trip with her parents and Josh to New Zealand in 2004 ranks as Vicki’s favorite hunt. For starts, the landscape was simply astounding. “It was definitely an adventure,” she says.

Surrounded by trophies, her hunting memories are very much alive, but these days Vicki’s mind is more on Christmas – by which she is likewise surrounded.

Initially, she met Amy and Deborah while building her house and buying light fixtures at Deborah’s store, The Added Touch. Vicki later grew to know them through Share Club.

Vicki’s been so impressed with their work, she talked them into doing Christmas decorating for her parents.

“It’s so wonderful to find the trees ready and decorations are everywhere,” Vicki says. “There might be a Christmas moose propped up on a light fixture, and you never know what you’ll see hanging from a chandelier. It’s all so creative and different every year. It really stays fresh.” During the holidays, she’ll see Josh and Amy, plus her parents. And she also

Lights and garland lead one to rooms and a balcony upstairs, upper left, while Vicki’s Christmas tree in the den is a fun one, reflecting her deep roots to Mississippi State. An attractive and detailed Nativity signifies her religious convictions, above. Throughout the house one finds small and often intricate and whimsical grouping of decorations. Vicki says she always enjoys discovering what Amy and Deborah had set up around her house every Christmas.

plans to have friends over to enjoy her decorated home.

Besides working and enjoying season tickets for her beloved Bulldogs and cowbells, Vicki has been learning to play golf and recently started lessons with a pro. She’s also excited about beginning her “next great adventure.”

“I’m helping my dad write and edit a book on faith, family and leadership,” she says. “People have been asking him to write a book for years.”

With the holidays approaching, Vicki is also excited about something else.

“I look forward to seeing what Amy and Deborah come up with for the coming Christmas season,” she says.

Just don’t think any of her trophies will wear wreaths or have decorations dangling from their racks.

“A lot of them,” Vicki grins, “are too high to reach anyway.”