In December 2012, Tanner, Allyn, and Jason were all in Young Men and Young Women, the ward youth had a white elephant gift exchange activity at Bishop England’s house.
It was one of those activities that did exactly what it was supposed to do. Everyone brought a gift, everyone laughed, and everyone had a good time.
I do not remember what any of the kids took as their white elephant gifts. I only remember what Tanner came home with.
He came home with a cupboard door.
Not a broken one. Not a damaged one. It was a perfectly normal cabinet door, hinges still attached, solid, and clean. Tanner was delighted. He was proud of having received such an unusual gift and especially enjoyed the novelty of it.
At first, it just seemed odd. Then Annette started asking questions.
We learned from the kids that Travis Rees was the one who had brought the cupboard door to the activity.
Annette called Barbara Rees to ask about the cupboard door. Barbara was genuinely confused. She had no idea Travis had brought a cupboard door as his white elephant gift. She and her husband were out of town.
A few days later, the Reeses returned home and discovered what had happened. One of the cupboard doors in their kitchen was missing.
Travis had removed it from a cabinet in the house and used it as his white elephant gift.
Barbara came by to retrieve the door so it could be returned to its rightful place. My memory is a little fuzzy on the exact logistics. We may have even taken the door to church and exchanged it in the parking lot.
Travis never said anything to Annette or me about it. He may have said something to Tanner, but if he did, I never heard about it. The cupboard door went back where it belonged, and the incident became one of those stories that lingers mostly because it is hard to believe it actually happened.
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