December is always a fun month, as I love Christmas, time spent with my family and all the festivities. The fun started early in December as we went to a concert to see the Welsh Male Voice Choir – Only Men Aloud - a good night out! I also had a good long break over Christmas and the New Year period, so was able to relax and enjoy some ‘me’ time 
That being said, there was plenty of work to be done in December, including a long list of copy-editor queries to start work on for the book – this will also be a feature of my work in January no doubt! Towards the end of the month and the term, students have been submitting assessment work, which results in some weeks of marking for me and my colleagues. I actually enjoy marking as this is an opportunity to give students individual feedback on their progress and successes, however, I always wish I had more time to devote to this important part of the job.
So to finish off this month and year’s journal – a few pictures from Christmas 2010 – firstly my son Rob and his girlfriend, Laura, with their ‘look-alike’ snow people creations , then my two cats watching the baubles on the christmas tree (needless to say, we were continually picking up baubles from the floor over the festive period!), and finally a lovely picture of my Mum and my son exchanging gifts on Christmas day.
I am writing this blog, just as we are coming towards the festive break and I really am looking forward to a few days of quiet time with my family; December has been another busy month. At the very beginning of the month, the 1st, I participated, with colleagues from the REACH network in a one-day colloquim at Northumbria University. This was an event organised by ‘Escalate’ the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Education and its focus was on credit-bearing CPD in academia. It was a very interesting event with lots of opportunities for networking. Then later in the month I travelled to Liverpool to participate in the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) annual conference. This was a very large event with a wide range of papers and workshops presented. There were some good social events too, including a reception with the ‘Cheatles’ , a Beatles tribute band – well, what else would you see in Liverpool? As well as being at conferences, I have been doing alot of preparation for teaching in January and February, when I will be working with employment-based part-time students on a number of undergraduate modules. Consequently, my thesis has not progress greatly during the past couple of weeks, although I have been doing some more reading and planning in preparation for a good ‘onslaught’ in the New Year – ever optimistic! I am also aware, as noted in last month’s blog, I still haven’t done more work on this website….the ‘to do’ list continues to be a ‘live document’, as they say!
At home, any spare time has been geared towards planning for the festive break. We had a lovely weekend in Manchester, looking around the German Christmas market and enjoying a Tapas meal out. So the focus has been on shopping for presents, planning meals, thinking about decorations – and wondering how we will manage the challenge of putting up a Christmas Tree with baubles and decorations, with two lively 6-month old kittens charging about….
