Bill Broadhead of Mendenhall learned early that to his wife Amanda, Christmas was more than special. Early, as in before they even began dating. But it took a trip to a Marshall Bowl game to solidify his acceptance of her passion.
It should be noted that even though they knew of each other growing up, they did not know each other as friends.Their first real introduction was a fix up of sorts by mutual friends on, of all nights, Christmas Eve.
In a Mendenhall fire truck Amanda and her two friends were riding around driven by her dad, Perry Lee, who was fire chief at the time. The friends specifically asked that he stop in front of Bill’s house. “I was so embarrassed!” said Amanda. After a quick ride for the four of them in the fire truck they returned to Bill’s and spent some time together.
Before Amanda had left that night her mother had reminded her not to be late coming home because Santa was coming. When it came time to leave Bill, Amanda said she had to because Santa was coming. “Bill thought I was making up an excuse because I didn’t want to be there. He said he’d heard some lines but…!” Amanda even realized she had left her earrings sitting on a table after she left. Her thoughts: “Instead of going back inside I’m just going to leave them. That’ll give me an excuse to see him again.”
From that night on the two were inseparable.
During their first Christmas season as a married couple, they attended a bowl game in Michigan. Returning to Mendenhall on Christmas Eve, they had made it Memphis before learning that the plane might be grounded because of ice accumulation. Bill recalled that Amanda said they would have to rent a car to come home to make it back in time for Santa at her parents’ house. “I thought she was joking. She was dead serious. I learned quick I probably don’t need to schedule any more trips around Christmas, and we haven’t.” Bill admits he was a slow learner about Amanda’s love of Christmas.
The Broadhead home is always warm and inviting but at Christmas time it is especially so. Every room on the first floor contains more than a little in the way of decorations right down to the powder room off the garage, complete with a reindeer soap dispenser.
Four unique trees, each with a specific name, may be found in the living room, the kitchen, the foyer and the dining room.
The piano is decorated with photos of Santa with their children, Alex and Bella, from the year Alex was born through Bella’s senior year. “Alex said, ‘Mom this is it. I’m 20; this is enough.’ So he did one last time for me in 2023,” Amanda said. The tradition always included her mother, Janella Lee and a visit to the same mall.
Decorating the Broadhead home is a family affair too, including Janella and Perry. “My mom helps me every year. I could not do all this without her. We get out on the balcony and put up all the garland and the lights. I told her she is Mrs. Claus.”
This year the first thing to go up was the traditional tree, which is 12’ tall with a wide circumference at the bottom. It is typically the last thing because it is such an undertaking to complete. It takes Amanda, Janella, Perry and usually Alex to put it together, but he was unavailable this year so Bella’s fiancé, Travis Cockrell, stood in for Alex.
Decorated in traditional colors of red, green and gold along with some blue, it holds various types of ornaments – those with sentimental value, traditional, family, and oranments hand-made by their children.
“I try to put a lot of the things that are important to me.” Amanda described her most treasured ornament, a gift from her grandmother in 2000. “She was so excited. She was born in the early 1900’s. She graduated high school in 1930. This was one of the last things she bought me.” She died in 2006.
The Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer glass ornament always creates an argument between the siblings as each wants to be the one to hang it on the tree. This year, however, it was all Bella since Alex could not be home. She went so far as to video her hanging it on the tree to send to Alex. Got to love that one-upmanship between brother and sister!
Perry build storage boxes for the five tree pieces to keep them in good shape. “My parents, I guess, enable my Christmas obsession,” Amanda said laughing. She believes her love of Christmas was inherited from her mother but Janella’s is on a lesser scale – she has only one tree.
Each tree has a story. The gold tree in the foyer was purchased by Janella while Bill and Amanda were building their house. The couple lived in Bill’s grandmother’s home and their tree was in storage. “I couldn’t go without a tree; you know it was Christmas.” In addition, the angel topper was a Christmas shower gift from Toni Broadhead, wife of Bill’s first cousin Andy. The two men grew up together as close as brothers.
The tree in the kitchen is called the Girlie Tree. It has Amanda’s favorite colors of pink, purple and teal. “Bella and I normally do that one together.”
The tree in the dining room is known as the Sports Tree and was owned by Bill’s mom, Barbara. “It’s almost evolved into a scrapbook of where Bill has been, I’ve been, where the kids have been. We have lots of Tigers. Bill coached at Simpson Central. I taught at Mendenhall and coached cheerleaders there and also went to Mendenhall. Bill went to Crystal Springs as the principal. They were also Tigers. We have a lot of basketball; he coached basketball and football and track too. But basketball was his main thing.” There are also Cougar oriented ornaments alluding to Simpson Academy where the kids graduated along with cheer ornaments for Bella as a cheerleader. In addition, Mississippi College is represented for Alex and Amanda as is University of Southern Mississippi because of Bill and the family’s love of the campus. “It’s even more special now since Bella is there,” Amanda added. Bill has three degrees from USM.
“I don’t really know why I decided to do all these trees. I love doing it every year. I just love Christmas!” Amanda said.
The Broadheads still maintain traditions set in the early years of their marriage. Christmas Eve is spent with the Bill’s family for dinner with mainstays through the years like ham, turkey and crawfish bisque. After retrning home the family reads the Christmas Story.
Christmas morning finds Bill, Amanda, Alex and Bella together with their dog Chewie opening gifts. And Chewie loves opening his gifts. Then they head to the Lee’s home for lunch of traditional fare that includes green bean casserole, Rotel chicken, chicken and dumplings and two sweet potato casseroles. Janella makes one topped with pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon for Perry and one especially for Bella with lots of marshmallows. As a child Bella even had her own little casserole that she didn’t have to share with anyone!
One of Amanda’s favorite traditions began when Alex and Bella were little, a kit called “What Does God Want for Christmas” that contains a book and seven boxes. They know it by memory now and still do it for seven nights leading up to Christmas.
“Each night is one piece of the manger scene. It’s Mary, it’s Baby Jesus, it’s Gabriel. That night it tells a little devotional about that character. The very last night it’s a mirror so God wants you for Christmas. Isn’t that so sweet? I love it,” said Amanda.
“We still do Santa Claus. I told my children until they have families of their own Santa Claus will still come see them. They humor me. I try to keep the magic alive even though they’re grown,” Amanda said.
“I love this house the most at Christmas time. I wish it could be like this all the time on the outside and the inside.”
