Making the season bright: A Mountain Brook dad creates a joyful neighborhood tradition

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Matt Crane is officially in his Christmas dad era, and it’s a season his family, friends and Mountain Brook neighborhood are embracing.

“I think at the root of it, I just get to be a kid again, and my love runs deep for the Christmas holiday,” Crane said.

“I used to be the guy before having kids where I was completely minimalistic with Christmas lights. I was the person with clear light strands all in a perfectly straight line, and I would kind of outwardly scoff at inflatables. I now have two boys who are 5 and 6 and I am like, ‘Bring on the inflatables.’”

Crane has not only brought them to his yard; he has multiplied them rapidly each year to a collection of roughly 250 — give or take a few — with a yard display named “Candy Crane Lane.”

“When my kids came along, we would be driving around looking at Christmas lights, and they would truly light up and go crazy when they would see a yard with inflatables,” Crane said. “I was like, ‘OK, you guys love inflatables; we should add some to our yard.’ That was the point it all started, and I haven’t looked back since.”

When his family moved into their Locksley Drive home in 2021, Crane put up roughly five or six inflatables to decorate.

“It kind of only grew from there,” Crane said. “I am the type of guy that I am either zero or 100. I don’t do anything halfway.”

With each subsequent year, Crane has purchased new inflatables for his yard while also learning the art of buying them at clearance prices during after-Christmas sales.

“I now have this pretty large menagerie of unique and interesting inflatables to put up throughout the yard, and visually, it gives people something different to look at each year,” Crane said. “I think the more unique inflatables are actually kind of fun. Each year there is always something new.”

Although each inflatable brings joy to Crane, he said he is a bit partial to his Grinch collection — a special section of his yard specifically devoted to the many Grinches he has purchased over time.

Not only does Crane put up his large collection of inflatables, but he also adds lights across his yard, including his roof this year that will be entirely covered with Christmas lights.

“Oh, the inflatables get all of the glory, but the lights are really the most time consuming,” Crane said. “If I can put a light on it, I pretty much do. The tree limbs, the yard — you name it, it has a light on it.”

When the calendar hits late August, Crane knows it’s time to start prepping his yard. He works steadily and efficiently during September and October to get everything ready for mid-November, when Christmas is in full swing.

“We do have a few Halloween inflatables in our yard just to be festive for that, but when Nov. 1 hits, it is showtime over here for Christmas,” Crane said. “If I am going to put that much time into something, I want to have ample time to enjoy it, so we have everything ready to go by mid-November.” The decor stays up until about the second week of January, when it is all taken down and stored away in Crane’s garage.

Over the years, some of the decorating highlights for Crane and his family have been interacting with people who drive by or hearing that neighbors enjoy the display. Crane sometimes dresses up as Santa or the Elf and blends in with the decor.

“I get a kick out of popping up and running around when people think I am just a prop in the yard,” Crane said. “We really love it when people come by. We just get a lot of happiness out of seeing everyone enjoy it, especially the kids. We have buses come. The nearby nursing homes bring some of the elderly by. It is just a joy-filled thing to do for people, and each year we love it that much more.”

Crane said the decorations and Christmas joy become more and more nostalgic for him each year as he recalls his grandmother’s love for the Christmas holiday.

“I think my love for it started when I had kids,” Crane said. “But I also remember, growing up, my grandmother going all out at her house. She had Christmas toilet paper, Christmas potholders, a million Santas — and so each year a lot of those memories come back. My kids love to help me put things up. They spend time with me out getting everything ready, and it just creates a whole new set of memories for me.”

Crane said he thought about traffic flow with intention when he started putting up his decorations, wanting to avoid a traffic jam of onlookers.

“The way everything is set up is that people can drive by and keep cruising,” Crane said. “We also try to be respectful of the neighbors and turn the lights off around 9 p.m. during the week.”

Even with all the joy the display brings, there’s one part of the process Crane admits he doesn’t look forward to.

“Probably the saddest part is putting them all away for the season,” Crane said. “But it just means it is time to start planning for next year.”

The Cranes’ display is on view now through the end of the year at 3628 Locksley Drive in Mountain Brook.