Christmas letter

For the past 14 years, we have been sharing with our readers a Christmas letter I wrote to my eldest daughter in 2011.

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At that time, she was just three years old when I wrote her that letter.Our readers used to ask me why I wrote that letter. I explain that, at that time, Cassandra had started to ask me the "Why" questions. Questions like, "Why do we have a Christmas tree?" "Why are there stars and glitter on the tree?" "Why are there gifts under the tree?," and more "why."

As she did, I came to a realization that the first question children would learn to ask their dads is "why." Not "what." Not "who." Not "how." And especially not "how much." The first question they learned to ask their dads is "why."

I wrote this letter to answer some of her most important "why" questions. At that time, Filipino families and others around the world were facing the challenge of calamities, crimes, and other catastrophes. I remember being asked questions like why is there so much human suffering, why are people dying, and how can people do bad things to other people?"

In this Christmas letter, I attempted to explain to my then three-yearold daughter that things happen for a purpose. That there are no accidents in life. Everything is part of one grand divine plan.

Once again, here is the Christmas letter I first shared with our readers in 2011:

Dearest Cassandra,