When people think of going to their localmotor vehicle department or to the driver’s license station, theprospect of taking numbers and waiting in a seemingly endless linecan damper the cheeriest of spirits at even the cheeriest time ofyear.

    However, such is not the case when one walks into the MississippiHighway Patrol driver’s license station off Highway 84 inBrookhaven this holiday season – something Driver’s LicenseExaminer Lucye Moore makes certain of.

    She has been collecting miniature homes, trees, shops and peopleamong a plethora of other winter scene bric-a-brac since 1996.

    She now has more than enough to fill a roughly 5-by-20 feet exhibitin creating her own winter wonderland snow village in the driver’slicense station.

    “It took me about a week working on and off after hours (to put itall together),” Moore said of her holiday display. “It’s funputting it up.”

    It all started with a small, snow-capped building called Marvel’sBeauty Salon, which Moore said she got back in 1996. The piecereminded her of her mother’s Bowlin Wig and Beauty Shop that usedto operate in Brookhaven and several cities throughout thestate.

    “Everything started from there and kind of just kept going,” Mooresaid.

    The current display at the station showcases at least 60 houses,buildings and other larger items, as well as more than 100 smalleraccessories like people and trees, Moore said.

    “There’s a lot more than what I have here, believe it or not,” shesaid.

    Moore only has so much room in the office to adorn with hercollectibles.

    Moore explained she started setting up the village in the driver’slicense station back in 2002, and each year people look forward toseeing it.

    “I had the room to put it up,” she said. “It makes it feel morelike Christmas when people come in.”

    There is plenty involved in setting up the intricate exhibition,Moore explained.

    It started with setting up three, 20-feet foldable tables. Then,Moore gathered cardboard boxes and blocks of Styrofoam to formdifferent levels and create the illusion of hills.

    “It makes different platforms for the pieces to sit on,” she said.”If you just go flat, you can’t always see what’s behind somethingelse.”

    After arranging the blocks how she wanted, she draped white sheetsover them and topped everything off with flat layer of “snowfabric.”

    “After that you just figure out which way you want your houses andbuildings to go,” she continued. “Then you just fill in with trees,cars, people and everything else.”

    Among the hundreds of items in the village are an arts building, apolice station and two identical homes.

    “We like to think of this as Brookhaven,” Moore said. “We’ve gotthe Arts School, the police department here, and even two twinhomes like the twin homes on Jackson Street.”

    Even Moore admits there are enough pieces in the snow village thatit is hard to put an eye on each one.

    “Every time you look at it, there’s something different to see.Each time,” she said.

    The village is a popular attraction among the employees and publicalike who come into the station.

    “It kind of puts us in a cheerier mood,” she said. “And when we’recheerier, people who come in are cheerier and happier. The feelingspreads around.”