Christmas is one of the few days in a year when one can comfortably enjoy leisure.
You can share delicious food with your family, watch TV, listen to music, play small games, and more.
Of course, you can also travel with your family to various places.
In the evening, in Connie's living room.
As everyone gathered around the TV to watch the Christmas variety show, Mike received a call from Regina.
"Is something wrong, Regina?" Mike asked after answering the phone.
"Mike, I have good news for you. This time, we're really going to be famous!" Regina said excitedly over the phone.
"Has the Christmas single's sales surged again?" Feeling the girl's uncontrollable excitement, Mike smiled and guessed.
As far as he knew, the song sung by The Plastics were selling very well locally. And some small shopping malls had already added that song to their playlist.
"The single sold over five thousand copies..." Regina mentioned briefly, then excitedly said, "Besides the single selling well, there's even better news..."
"Uh huh." Mike patiently waited for the rest of the story.
Regina didn't make him wait long; she blurted out, "You know that my mom filmed a video of our performance for the school Christmas party, right?
Those videos were sent to the TV station, and after watching them, they decided to invite us to participate in an episode of Christmas Joyful Day.
We're going to perform on TV..."
Christmas Joyful Day is a variety show on a local Texas TV station, similar to a Christmas seven-day special.
Most of the guests invited to this show are famous actors and singers from Texas.
The nature of the show determined that it would be very popular in Texas.
It can be imagined that being able to participate in such a high-exposure show made Queen Bee feel very good.
After the girl finished sharing the good news, Mike asked, "So how much are they willing to pay us?"
This was a very realistic question, and Mike didn't have such an urgent need to become famous. What he cared about most, naturally, was whether the cost-effectiveness of performing on Christmas was worth it.
"Money?" Regina obviously hadn't expected Mike's perspective on the issue to be so strange.
Compared to the opportunity to become famous, was money still important?
The girl was silent for a moment, then emphasized, "That's the Christmas Joyful Day show!!"
It was clear the girl wanted to emphasize that participating in this show was very significant.
"So that means the production team isn't going to pay us, then," Mike calmly analyzed.
Simply put, the production team wanted to get it for free.
"This isn't about money," Regina said somewhat anxiously, "We have the chance to perform on the same stage with famous Texas stars, isn't that enough?"
In fact, it was very rare for amateur stars to participate in this show. The Plastics and Mike having this opportunity was very likely due to June's connections behind the scenes.
To fulfill her daughter's dream of becoming famous, she might have even paid the production team.
However, Mike, on the other hand, clearly couldn't accept being taken advantage of. Upon hearing there was no compensation, he said disinterestedly, "Forget it, I won't join the fun..."
Strictly speaking, in the song performance, Mike only played the role of a musician last time. His position in the team's performance was not indispensable.
"Please, just help us out. The team's performance won't be as smooth without you..." Regina heard Mike's intention to decline, and her tone inevitably carried a hint of coquetry.
Then, she continued, "I've already told Cady and the others about this news. They should be calling you soon too. Just consider this trip as accompanying us for fun..."
Thinking about how much the girls would surely value this opportunity to participate in the show, Mike didn't want to spoil everyone's mood.
So, he fell into a small dilemma.
Should he stay home and spend Christmas with Connie and the others, or go out and have fun with the girls from The Plastics?
"Oh, and Mike. The production team specifically allowed us to bring our families along..." Regina said, "It's also a very rare opportunity to see a star performance live."
"Alright, I'll go ask Connie and their opinions." The suggestion of bringing his family swayed Mike.
Putting himself in their shoes, he'd just consider his own compensation as buying tickets for Connie and the others.
Thinking that way, it didn't seem like much of a loss.
"Waiting for your good news—" Seeing signs of Mike's attitude softening, Regina hung up the phone contentedly.
Here, Mike also told Connie and the others, who were watching TV, the news that they could bring their family to Christmas Joyful Day.
"Is that the show I know?" Connie asked with a smile.
The Christmas Joyful Day show, hosted by the TV station, was very popular in Texas.
Today, Connie and the Cooper family had also watched this show.
"Yes," Mike nodded.
"That's great! So we'll be able to see Alana Jackson perform live!" Connie exclaimed with surprise.
Alana Jackson, a famous country musician with a small mustache and a handsome cowboy outfit, is well-known throughout America.
"I can't guarantee he'll be there tomorrow," Mike said with a smile, seeing Connie's excited expression.
"It doesn't matter, seeing other stars perform live is also a great experience." Connie, who liked excitement, was clearly very interested in going to the show.
And from the looks of it, Connie simply wanted to go and see a "star" live. As for who this star was, she didn't seem to care much.
On the other side, the Cooper family also showed great interest in going to watch the star performance live.
Judging by George and his wife's expressions, they very likely regarded this opportunity to watch the show live as a family outing for Christmas.
And after receiving unanimous support from everyone, Mike immediately called Regina back and finalized the itinerary.
At Connie's, Georgie, who had confirmed he could go watch Christmas Joyful Day live tomorrow, immediately got up and walked out.
"Georgie, where are you going?" Mary, who noticed her eldest son's unusual behavior, asked aloud.
One must know that it was Christmas Eve, an important day for the family to reunite.
"I have to go back and try on my new suit that I bought today..." With that, Georgie left Connie's without looking back.
This afternoon, Georgie had earned a handsome black suit from his dad through his hard work (changing snow tires).
It seemed he now wanted to go home and try on that suit to prepare for tomorrow's event.
Clearly, he highly valued the opportunity to watch the star performance live tomorrow.
"He's right, I also need to go home and find that new winter outfit I bought last year." Prompted by his eldest son, George, the head of the Cooper family, also couldn't sit still.
Then, after exchanging glances with his wife, they both left Connie's.
It could be imagined that those who could go to watch the Christmas Joyful Day show were all prominent figures or family members of stars.
Although the Cooper family's economy was not thriving, George and his wife did not want to appear shabby outside.
People living in the world always have some vanity, which is also very understandable.
"I also need to go back and get dressed up..." Missy, who loved to join in the fun, greeted Mike and then, with her short legs, followed her parents' footsteps.
Suddenly, only Sheldon, who was still bewildered, was left at Connie's. He looked around blankly, then, being very sociable, walked towards his own house.