Holidays
winter
Wonderland A classic Christmas tale inspired a pandemic passion project for this local dentist
R
By Ren e e Amb ro so | Photography by J ohn Mi chael Si m pson
Rows of snowcapped roofs,
dripping icicles and blinking string lights adorn a wintry industrial village. Evergreens and glowing shop windows line cobblestone streets and train tracks disappear into a tunnel beneath a rocky mountain. The village sits inside Jill Cheek and Dr. Daniel Cheek’s Chapel Hill home, taking up nearly the entire living room. Daniel began working on it in March 2020 when the pandemic temporarily shut down his Hillsborough dental practice, and he found himself with hours to fill at home. He dived headfirst into the hobby that he’d fostered for several years, mitigating the isolation of the early months of the pandemic. “I enjoyed having [the project] – it really was a stress reliever,” he says. At first, Daniel set out to construct the smaller diorama that decorated their home every December. The inspiration stemmed from a classic holiday story – “A Christmas Dr. Daniel Cheek meticulously planned and constructed the massive model village Carol,” penned by Charles Dickens in 1843. displayed in his home over the course of several months. He drew on his dental During his childhood, Daniel gathered with background to build and mold materials to bring the Dickens-inspired town to life. his family in their living room each year at Christmas as they dimmed the lights and listened to the tale on a 33 rpm record. The scratchy well-loved vinyl “Mount Corona.” More than 100 buildings and several hundred hissed and popped, and it became his favorite holiday tradition. additional pieces shape the backdrops of familiar scenes from Dickens’ Each year, his village that began on a 4-by-4 card table grew larger and novel, from Scrooge’s childhood home to the bleak cemetery where he more detailed. Now, dozens of Ebenezer Scrooge and ghost figurines has an epiphany (complete with uprooted trees and decrepit fences). dot the landscape under the mountain that Jill and Daniel have dubbed Overlooking the whole display is a bright red “Merry Christmas” sign December 2021
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