Eleanor Helene Watanabe died Monday at her new Kahului home after years of battling cancer. She was 81.

"She was a very, very, sweet lady," said her younger sister, Lavina Rocha-Silva. "She's going to be missed by a lot of people.

"It was like a family tradition, every December people would come with their families and enjoy all of her hard work."

At Watanabe's final holiday display at her Wailuku Heights home last year, about 20 artificial Christmas trees were decorated with layers of ornaments and garlands in every color of the rainbow.

Even though Watanabe was undergoing chemotherapy, Rocha-Silva said that her sister wanted to continue the show that had been going on for more than 20 years.

"We all thought she was crazy. But we figure let her, that's what she wanted to do," Rocha-Silva added.

Senior citizens from Kaunoa Senior Center and schoolchildren visited the Watanabe home from time to time. Visitors from Oahu would stop by.

In addition to her trees, Watanabe had a massive collection of Barbie dolls and other dolls.

The collection of trees and dolls that Watanabe loved so much has been passed on to her family. Family members took in the trees, while some of the dolls were sold and others are in storage, Rocha-Silva said.

"I got the unusual one, the metal one," Rocha-Silva said of the Christmas tree she will keep. She said the tree is gold, stands 6 feet high and has branches like scrolls with curlicues. "It's beautiful."

Watanabe developed her love of Christmas trees and dolls after growing up without as a youngster in Hamakuapoko Camp, Rocha-Silva said. She said she remembers her family putting up a Christmas tree, but her older sister may not have had one when she was a child.

They didn't have any dolls.

"Usually, we got clothes for Christmas," Rocha-Silva said.

Watanabe kept her decorated trees up all year long, reducing the four-bedroom Wailuku house to a two-bedroom living space. Watanabe's husband, Alan, did not object, even putting together the shelves for his wife's displays.

"He did everything," Rocha-Silva said.

Services for Watanabe will begin with visitation at 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Anthony Church with Mass over urn at 10:30 a.m. Cremains will be placed in a niche at 2 p.m. at Maui Veterans Cemetery.

Rocha-Silva said ornaments from Watanabe's trees will be given away at the funeral.

Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.