Why won't my Emoji & Symbols pane open any more? (iMac Monterey)

I used to click "Show Emoji and Symbols" in my task bar and it opened right up. Used it all the time. Now it doesn't work any more, as of a few days ago. I haven't upgraded my software or anything, no idea what caused this. I also commonly clicked Control+Command+Space to access the emoji viewer, and it's not working now either. Only way I can type emoji or symbols now is to copy/paste them from some other place I can find one I want to use. Why did this break, and how can I get it back?

This is on a late 2015 iMac running macOS Monterey version 12.7.6 (the most recent OS this older Mac will allow). The computer works great in every way otherwise, so I hope I can just get my emojis back somehow!

🤞🏼 (<--This emoji copy/pasted from my iphone)