Friday, June 05, 2009

Kathleen: Fairies and Flowers and Filling the Hours

With the release this week of Michele and Lois's Faeries Gone Wild, I thought I'd celebrate with an ode to everyone's favorite--many of you said it already--Tinkerbell. No matter how old we are, thanks to Walt Disney most of us were children when we first encountered her. J.M. Barrie created Peter Pan in The Little White Bird, a novel for adults, in 1902, followed by a play in 1904. But Disney immortalized Neverland for us, for our children, and--wonder of wonders...

for our grandchildren!

Halloween 2007. My younger granddaughter was the Tinkerbell fan, while her older(by 2 years) sister thought Tink was for little kids. She loved the Disney princesses, especially Belle. Tink wasn't a princess. She was a fairy.

Fast forward a year and some months. Early 2009 the older granddaughter and her first grade friends discover the interactive Disney site "Pixie Hollow." Suddenly Baby sister's been ahead of the curve all along. Pixie Hollow is the latest thing with girls of all ages. If you haven't seen it
yet, you should take a look. Mind you, I'm not big on internet babysitters, but this is a site that really tickles the imagination.
So here you are in Neverland, site of Pixie Hollow, where the fairies live. It's free to join with a parent's permission, but you can buy a membership for about $6 a month (this is Disney, after all) and have access to more activities. (We started out free, tried membership for a month and decided to continue.) You get 3 fairy avatars. (I'm learning about avatars!) You play the game by being one of your fairies. You dress her, furnish her fairy home, move around in Pixie Hollow, make friends, have parties, play games--wow! Your friends have fairies, and you meet up with them and chat, play games, get on the phone and say, "Where are you? I'm in Bubble Bounce. Oh there you are! I see you!" You have to read and write messages, earn pine needles and leaves to buy new stuff at the Pixie Store (which means you do the math), decorate your abode for your party. I tell you, it's flutterific!

I will say that the first grade teacher had to limit fairy discussions in class this spring. But with her best friend visiting Grandma in Lithuania for the whole summer, Granddaughter is thrilled that they'll still be able to play together in Pixie Hollow.

One of our most exciting moments came when I had to call customer service on a problem with the membership. "I'm talking to the Pixie Hollow people," I said. Well, you'd think I had Hannah Montana on the line. The tech told me that she and her mother-in-law were into PH, too, while both granddaughters were jumping up and down wanting to talk. So the tech got on the phone and talked pixies with two totally thrilled little girls.

I do believe in fairies. It's Peter who never grows up and men who suffer (?) from Peter Pan Syndrome, while women go to self-help groups full of Wendys. But Tinkerbell is something else entirely. She's magic. That's something we never have to explain. It just is.

Pixie Hollow is a new attraction at Disney World. Has anyone seen it? I'm looking forward to a visit at some point, but I'm afraid it won't pack quite the thrill the kids expect--5-yr-old grandson is loving the fairy world, too--because the fairies are people. Not that the kids won't be all ga-ga over the outfits and the fun of chatting them up, but fairies in the flesh aren't fairies. (Heaven forbid Silvermist (in blue--one of our faves) should turn up on Showbiz Tonight in some scandal.)

Pixie Hollow is beautiful, safe, easy to use even with all its complexities, educational, and--did I mention safe? Imagination is a lifelong friend. Without it, there would be no Einstein, no Shakespeare, no Mozart, no Michelangelo ...

And no glorious convertible carrying 10 fiction writers and their wonderful friends!

When we talk about our inner child, it's so often something we're "dealing with." What part of you is still a kid? How do you celebrate that part? I wonder if it's different for men than it is for women?

12 comments:

Unknown said...

That is such a cute, pic, Kathy. Now I want to be a pixie, too.

Kathleen O said...

I will have to give this site to my great-niece who is just 3, she will love it..

Cindy Gerard said...

Thanks for telling us about the site, Kathy. I'm thinking my 8 year old granddaughter would love it.

And what part of me is still a kid? The biggest part. I love tea parties with the little ones, hunting for gnomes up in the woods at the cabin. I recently returned from Spain with a side trip to Morocco where I bought a carpet and a Genni lamp. I've convinced the grand kids that it's a magic carpet and a real Genni lamp and now we are ALL trying to come up with the right combination of magic words that will make the carpet fly and the Genni pop out of the bottle. I suspect we will spend many many hours working on those two puzzles alone :o)

Helen Brenna said...

I'm still a kid when it comes to puppies and kittens. Could lay on the floor and play with them for hours. I'm sure I'll be like that with grandkids some day.

Christie Ridgway said...

Oh, I love this, Kathleen. Thanks for posting. I'm still a little kid when it comes to all things girl, because I had boys, I think. If I never see another Lego (or step on one) I'll be happy. But if it's pink, glittery, dressable, I'm there!

Debra Dixon said...

I love the fae!

I'm on my way out the door to Phoenix, but Kathleen, I have boxes of fairy bandaids for trade show giveaways for our children's fairy book KASEYBELLE.

Want a box? Just email me and I'll pop one in the mail to you.

KylieBrant said...

Kathleen, you are such a wonderful grandma! Those little ones are super lucky!

Inside I'm all kid. I shed decades around my grandsons as I chase them through the house pretending to be a monster and their shrieks drive all the other adults crazy, LOL. For their birthday last year I bought them one of those inflatable bounce houses because they look like so darn much fun! And when they come for a week this summer I'm surprising them with a big tub of costumes. We've got pirates, astronauts and cowboys/Indians so far so we can play dress up every day. I'm always right in there with them, LOL scriptwriting as I direct the action...until they take it on tangents of their own. Such fun!

Michele Hauf said...

I think it's important we all retain our 'inner child' and sense of wonder. After all, seeing the world through a child's eyes is the most fascinating learning experience. Who says we have to abandon that perspective just because we get older? THe world could do with a lot more wonder.

Love the Pixy Hollow!

Kathleen Eagle said...

Michele, we did a little fairy flower garden. The kids picked out the flowers--snapdragons, baby's breath, dianthus--and we gathered some little figures, some bird houses. Nothing like yours, but it's the thought. When we take our field trip to see Lois's chick, can we stop in and see your fairy towns?

Kathleen Eagle said...

Kylie, we're big on costumes here. E-Bay is great for costumes. We also have a cache of fabric for designing costumes. You know, you wrap and pin and belt and tie. Grandson has a priate outfit, some plastic armor, Spiderman, a top hat and cane, crown and cape. Ah, dress up.

Kathleen Eagle said...

Oh, Cindy, I must have a magic carpet and lamp. Off to rake through the closets!

Michele Hauf said...

Faery tours always open here! Though, I haven't touched my faery garden this year. It needs major weeding. If those pesky army worms would just go away, I would dare go out there and get some gardening done.