Lee and Kenneth Majors were so busy during the holiday season with their 11th Avenue retail store, Majors Gifts, that they used to take the store's decorated tree home after hanging up the "closed" sign on Christmas.

Lee turns 91 in three days. She resides in a warm apartment at Hunter's Pointe adorned with antiques she has collected from around the world. She is quick to point out, though, that her current collection pales in comparison to what she used to own.

She is witty and full of vigor, even though she doesn't move quite as fast she used to. She knows how she likes things after living on Earth for more than nine decades. Her hands show the wear of the work she's seen from an executive secretary for a railroad company to vice president of the Big Sky Girl Scout Council.

In 1967, Majors Gifts was one of only three stores in Helena where customers could purchase silver, copper, pottery, glassware and collectibles of the time.

They were always open Christmas Eve, sometimes until 9 p.m.

One year the family doctor came in just before closing, frantic he hadn't gotten anything for his wife.

But he had nothing to fear, as Lee was happy to help him find just the right present for his special girl -- and she gift-wrapped it, as she always did, free of charge. The colder the weather, the busier the shop was, Lee said. One particularly busy day, the shop was filled with customers picking out unique trinkets.

Maybe they wanted to come inside to get out of the frigid 40-below-zero temperature.

The couple would make frequent trips to San Francisco, gathering items to stock their store.

What wouldn't fit on the display shelves was stored in a small building on the property. One year, the storage building was destroyed by fire lit by an arsonist, Lee said.

"We lost all our Christmas stuff that year, but manufacturers were good and sent stuff right away and we had insurance," she said. Lee says Christmas has become too commercialized; people just want too much and kids get too much these days. Churches, however, still have the right idea, she said.

Seven years after Majors Gifts opened its doors, Ken's health began to fail and the couple had to let it go, but the memories live on.

Reporter Alana Listoe: 447-4081 or alana.listoe@helenair.com.

For more holiday stories, click on the following links:

The girl who saved Christmas

Good food, loving family made for warm holidays

Poor family made most of rich home life during Depression