On the first day of Christmas, Murphy Crampton gave you and me a tall singing Christmas tree
On the second day of Christmas, Murphy Crampton gave you and me two flying Santas and a tall singing Christmas tree
On the third day of Christmas, Murphy Crampton gave you and me three raccoon reindeer, two flying Santas and a tall singing Christmas tree
On the fourth day of Christmas, Murphy Crampton gave you and me four waddling penguins, three raccoon reindeer, two flying Santas and a tall singing Christmas tree
Well, you get the idea.
Murphy Crampton, 15, is Prince George’s Mr. Christmas.
He’s always been crazy about the holidays – Halloween and Christmas are on top of the list – and to showcase his enthusiasm and his love of penguins Murphy has created Penguin Lane where he invites people year after year into his yard to go through the display of extraordinary inflatables that first sees Yoda in a Christmas hat welcome everyone. An animatronic bigger-than-life nutcracker waves his arms, a giant hugging teddy bear and the singing Christmas tree with a country music bent is a bit of a show stopper.
As a nod to Murphy’s mom, Shelley Ruiz, there’s even raccoons pulling Santa’s sleigh and one popping out of a chimney. There’s a giant Frosty the Snowman that stands about 19 feet tall, towering over the Christmas Countdown Clock at his feet.
A crowd favourite is the human-sized snowman playing a candy cane saxophone who rocks out as he’s performing.
And to lock in the title of Mr. Christmas, Santa-hat wearing Murphy asks the public who come to visit his display for donations to the BC Children’s Hospital.
“It’s free admission,” Murphy said. “But we’ve got donation boxes for people who would like to donate to BC Children’s Hospital. In total I’ve raised about $3,000 for BC Children’s Hospital over the last two years. Last Halloween was our biggest and we got over $2,000, which basically doubled the Halloween before. It was great. I just like doing the charity work because why not? It’s to let others enjoy the display and while they’re at it they can help the charity.”
The search for the perfect inflatables is a constant quest with Murphy and Shelley traveling all over BC and hopping across the border to find additions to the collection.
“I started doing small displays when I was 10 or 11 – right before Covid – and I started setting them up on my own and I grew to love them a lot and I would spend all my allowance money on these things,” Murphy said. “It’s a hobby for me. I really like it. It’s fun.”
Murphy has come up with unique designs for the display, always planning to make it even better and even built the grand entrance archway with his grandfather to enhance the experience.
The community feedback is quite amazing, Shelley added.
“It’s just really great to see how happy it makes people when they see the display and they come back every year,” she said. “They wait for the open sign to appear and they wait to see Murphy and they wait for the day they can come in and see it all and they come numerous times, which is really good to see. It’s something we can give back – we’re on the corner, people can drive by. People stop to look and we’re right next to the school and it’s something we can give that makes people happy. Murphy puts all his time and energy into the display and he’s always coming up with new ideas.”
A little family visited the display recently and Mom’s favourite was the giant Frosty.
“We came to the Christmas display last year and we were here for the Halloween display this year,” Latisha Banotra said.
“We live around here so we just walk over,” Latisha said, holding the leash attached to chi hua hua-terrier Zoe.
“It’s pretty cool.”
Dad Matthew Popovits was busy watching over baby Hunter as they made their way through Murphy’s Penguin Lane.
“It’s a really fantastic display.”
Check it out at 2995 St. Anne's Avenue in College Heights.
