[Source]

Memories of a 'Star Wars' Christmas

by Edward Moyer December 24, 2011 3:02 PM PST

(Credit: Darren Hayes. Screenshot by CNET)

It's easy to get a little jaded about the holidays.
If you're like me, you can't help but cringe when you hear that first strain of Christmas music wafting out of the speakers at your local drugstore in early November. ("Here we go again," you think.)
By the time Christmas Eve rolls around, you've battled crowds to grab your gifts and been bludgeoned with the latest Christmas cover tunes and advertising tie-ins. At this point, it's tempting to write it all off as nothing but an empty tradition or a moneymaking gimmick.
If you're lucky, though, you somehow manage to stumble on a Christmas story that hands you the holiday anew and makes the "spirit of giving" and "peace on Earth" more than mere platitudes.
Here's a simply produced video from Darren Hayes, half of the duo that made up the late '90s band Savage Garden (and a solo performer in his own right).
Maybe it's the unabashed and unpretentious presentation. Maybe it's because I remember "Star Wars" figurines and toy catalogs so well. I myself was a child in 1977 when the film first came out. Maybe, too, it has to do with the fact that I lost my mother not so very long ago and that Hayes' film reminds me of her sweetness and sacrifices.
Whatever it is, I was moved and unhumbugged by Hayes' modest offering. I thought some of you might be too. Sure, I could view this as yet another piece of Christmas-themed marketing, but I choose not to Scrooge around with that frame of mind.
In a statement to fans on his Web site, Hayes says the film "comes from the heart." It feels that way to me.
Here's his simple little tale. It's a sweet one. Enjoy.

(Via Laughing Squid)