Prologue: This book is a collection of prose and poetry for the year 2022. It contains holiday celebration poems and stories that occur in my life for each month of 2022.

On Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, I honored Mary the Mother of God at Mass. I attended Church for the Feast of the Three Kings, where the kings from Persia followed the Eastern Star and found the Christ Child. On January 9th, we honored the Baptism of the Lord, where He is baptized in the Jordan River by His cousin John the Baptist. Then He begins His public ministry.

On January 14, I celebrated my 66th birthday with my friend Rachel. I had a birthday Mass offered for me, then we went out to eat at a restaurant called "the 99," where prices end in the numbers "99." I had shrimp scampi and macaroni and cheese for $14.99, and a large hot fudge sundae for dessert. On Jan. 15, Rachel took me out to the Longhorn Steakhouse, and her boyfriend David and two other friends joined us. One of the other women who were with us had had a birthday on Jan. 5. Rachel and I attended Mass and Adoration that afternoon, then we went shopping and she bought me two pairs of pants and a jersey. It felt wonderful that I didn't have to worry, (as I usually have to) about the other person's money or how much she was paying for the meals and the clothing. Rachel works full-time as an assistant teacher in a Montessori school. On Sunday afternoon, Jan. 16, I gave my friends Sue and Alicia birthday cards, and Alicia and I went out to a place called "China Buffet." We ate as much as we liked, we didn't even have to wait to order, we just helped ourselves to the buffet. At the end of the meal, I said to the waitress, "Syeh syeh ni," the phonetic pronunciation of "thank you" in Mandarin Chinese. She answered me graciously in the same language. Sue's birthday was Jan. 16, and today is Alicia's birthday, Jan. 19. It was the first time I had had a triple celebration. I look forward to having a few more good birthdays in future years.