It is impossible to enjoy all of the mouth-watering food at Christmas time and not gain weight. I gained three of the 10 pounds I recently lost, and as I sit here at my computer, I can’t help think of the remaining Ferrero Rocher candies sitting on top of my dresser in my bedroom.

I guess I should eat them near my son more often. I opened my package of candies the day after Christmas, ad all of my children immediately started clamoring for one. I ignored them as I unwrapped the nutty chocolat-y goodness.

I had just unwrapped the candy and held the unwrapped nugget out to pop into my mouth when my 8-year-old son grabbed it out of my hand and popped it into his mouth. His claim was that he just couldn’t sit next to someone about to eat the candy of the gods without trying it.  He gets this from the latest ad, which notes that “since the beginning of time, the gods have indulged themselves…. until one day that secret escaped from their hands to be discovered by man.” The commercial urges you to share the secret of gold.

I have two more Christmas parties to get through before the new year, and I am going to have to be diligent in moderating what I eat and upping my exercise to make up the difference. It will be easier when this “secret of gold” is no longer in my home.

Yesterday, I showed up at the hospital to have my blood drawn. The blood work will check to make sure there isn’t a medical reason for my inability to lose weight and my tendency to gain weight.

My doctor wants to make sure it doesn’t have anything to do with my thyroid, but I suspect that there isn’t any medical reason interfering.

Giving blood involved fasting after midnight, which meant I had to find a day that it would be convenient for me to both fast after midnight AND leave my house early in the morning to get blood drawn. Yesterday was that day, and I really missed my morning coffee. After the blood draw, the first place I stopped was to buy coffee.

The actual process of getting blood went pretty quickly, but there were unexpected problems.

It has been a while since I’ve had blood drawn. I have a tendency to have iron-low blood, so I no longer donate blood on a regular basis. And in the last couple of years, I haven’t done a lot of self-health maintenance. Still, I wasn’t anticipating any problems.

I have good veins. I know this because I’ve frequently been told this by nurses who have no problem drawing my blood.

Or perhaps that statement should be past tense.

I had good veins.

Yesterday, I had veins that were not cooperating.

The nurse tried my left arm, which is where my blood is usually drawn. No dice. After a few finger flicks to encourage my reclusive veins, she switched arms. She had me make a fist, and I could feel my fingernails digging into the palms of my hands as I tried to will my veins to cooperate.

The tourniquet the nurse put on my arm to make my veins appear was uncomfortable from the moment the nurse placed it on my arm. I didn’t say anything about the rubber digging into my arm, and I probably should have since I realize now something wasn’t right.

She finally managed to get a needle into a vein, and filled up two or three vials. The vials filled slowly, so I don’t think the needle was in the vein very well. I even wondered why my blood flow was so weak, but the nurse didn’t say anything.

I considered asking if the nurse had any theories about why my veins were hiding today, but I didn’t know how to say, “are my arms too fat?” I wonder if it is harder to find a vein in overweight people. I suspect it might be so, but I don’t know since I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

When she was done, it hurt, but I was happy it was over so quickly. Within an hour I had a tiny bruise on the inside of my right elbow.

This morning, the tiny bruise has grown so large that a silver dollar wouldn’t cover it up. It’s more than an inch-and-a-half in width and height. The sorest spot is right where my elbow bends making it create a dull ache all the time.

It’s no wonder people don’t like needles.