Thank you so much for responding. I agree, this year is an absolute bloody trainwreck. And I'm glad she was able to come to us when she was upset. We've been really open with her about talking to us if she has questions/issues so it's worked, thank goodness.

Regarding Christmas, I worded that really badly, and looking at it now it sounds like I don't want her around for Christmas. I meant over the Christmas break, rather than on Christmas Day. Both my husband and I have had a really stressful year with work, covid has caused so much stress that our days are intense. We're both getting time off over Christmas which I cannot wait for. Just to have some time to unwind and leave work stress behind for a few days and breathe.

When we interviewed her we told her that when we are off work she would have free time to do the exploring that she'd expressed an interest in. We told her she would continue to be paid during this time so she had money to enjoy her time off and go do the things she wanted to do.

For the Christmas break, I think I'd expected that she might go meet friends, or explore our local area since she would have a block of time off, but I don't foresee that happening given how the last few months have gone.

I hope that makes sense, I don't want her to think she's unwelcome for Christmas. I've spent ages buying really specific gifts for her based on her interest and even got a necklace engraved in our local language (not english) that says "part of the family" so she can enjoy the holiday with us.