Despite some setbacks, the Alas family still feels blessed and its celebration of Christmas will remain as special as before.

Former Philippine Basketball Association coach Louie Alas admitted to having some sleepless nights when two of his sons — Kevin and Kenneth — crashed with injuries.

Kevin tore his anterior cruciate ligament while playing for NLEX in the PBA last month while Kenneth has yet to return to active competition since suffering the same injury in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.

"I had sleepless nights, thinking about it," said Alas, who also suffered a career-ending knee injury when he was still playing for Purefoods in the PBA in the late 1980s.

"But Kevin seems to be relaxed and told me not to worry about anything. The first thing he told me was, 'get some sleep, everything will be alright.' He also told me that God has better plans for us and we're truly blessed."

Kevin has just been awarded the PBA Sportsmanship of the Year for the second straight season, but suffered his third ACL injury during the early goings of the season.

The younger Kenneth, meanwhile, is looking to come back stronger and his faith has kept him more upbeat that everything is going to be okay.

"He told me that he's blessed that he still has contract with NLEX and the team has been taking care of him," Alas said.

"That's what every player wants in the PBA, to have a contract and continue playing."

Kevin might be sidelined for the time being, but he had shown his ability to return from adversities even after coming off two injuries prior to this latest one.

But Alas believes the year had given them more blessing, especially after his youngest son, Kieffer, fulfilled his dream of playing for the national team in the Southeast Asia Basketball Association Under-16 Championship.

Aside from Kieffer, Kevin also played for Gilas Pilipinas during its historic gold medal run in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou last October.

"We feel so blessed," Alas said.

"I have kids who not only made our family proud, but also made the country proud."

Alas said his youngest son has no plan of slowing down.

"He's more motivated to take his game to the next level and this early, he's looking at an opportunity to play in the United States before coming back here for college," Alas said.

"He wants to experience playing in the US and I'm sure it's going to be good for him. There are people who want to sponsor him."

Alas said the year may have given them mixed feelings but they still have all the reasons to feel blessed.

He knows that these setbacks were designed to make them closer, tighter as a family as they celebrate the birth of Christ.