Does Tinker Bell feel the cold?

We were looking at the UK Disney Store web site yesterday evening and we saw a new Tinker Bell doll. It is called "Tinker Bell Winter Dress Up Doll Soft Toy". The picture shows everyone's favourite pixie "wrapped up ultra warm for the colder months" in a long, fur-lined coat and hand muff. The description then gets a little confused. The picture is definitely Tink and not Cinderella so you are very tempted to take them up on the offer and undress her to see whose gown she has on underneath. Go to www.disneystore.co.uk and you'll soon find it. The doll seems to be one of a series of princesses in winter outfits.

This does make me wonder if Tinker Bell really needs to wrap up against the cold. We never see her on screen in anything but her short dress. My Mikki says that is like an ice skating costume. Even so it can't be all that warm for her. OK, Neverland may be magically as warm as you want it to be but in her film Tink flies to the mainland at the end of winter when there is still lots of snow and ice about. Did she feel cold?

Yes, I'm just joking. It's one of those lovely Disney questions that animation makes possible. It's like another one I heard about: Why does a family company like Disney allow Donald Duck to wander about with no trousers on? I've heard official answers ranging from, "He's a duck: he has feathers all over him below his sailor top" to something to the effect of, "He's a drawing, you idiot. He's only a few pencil lines on a piece of paper. He has nothing to cover up. And we drew him so we can dress him how we like".

It's just a bit of fun. Besides, whatever else Tinker Bell is, she is definitely a girl. So why shouldn't she just like dressing up? Her very first act in Neverland was to take the scissors to the awful outfit the clumsy (male) Tinkers made for her. And I'm sure "Winter Dress Up" is far from the first doll to give her alternative costumes (come to think of it, I'm afraid there's already one in this house somewhere).

This all brings me to the question of why we were looking at soft toys on the UK Disney Store web site in the first place. You guessed it: there is a new Figaro soft toy there. We have to go to London in the next week and I have already got Mikki to re-organise things while we are there in the hope they have one (or two - we may need a gift) in stock. Pictures are fine but we would like to look at him for real. It doesn't look like he has a ribbon round his tail (like I do) but if Disney want to dress him up, that's OK by me too.

Look out for another new addition to the family in the next week. Lots of love to all families everywhere.