Hoda Kotb Is Saving Every Sign Fans Bring to Today Plaza During Her Final Week for This Sweet Reason (Exclusive)

• On Friday, January 10, Hoda Kotb will be one of the presenters Today show for the last time after she announced her departure in September
• Kotb tells PEOPLE, “I’m at a loss for words,” when it comes to how fans have shown up for her during her last week
• “No one says ‘I love you’ like them Today show”, says the mother of two children

Hoda Kotb was figuring it all out during her last week at Today show.

“It’s been quite a ride,” Kotb, 60, tells PEOPLE. “I keep getting lost in people’s eyes. That’s what I always feel when I see people, especially on [Today] Square. They tell a story about something that happened or something they did.”

“Almost every bracelet I wear came from someone in the Plaza. Some have my name on them. This one says, ‘Unicorn,’ this one says, ‘Leo’s Roar.’ Someone made one with the date of my last day, 01/10/2025,” she continues. “Whether it’s a piece of jewelry or a stew or someone crocheted something beautiful, there are constant reminders.”

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And Kotb appreciates them all. In fact, she loves them so much that she plans to keep them to one day show her daughters Hayley, 7, and Hope, 5.

“I asked our guys to roll up every sign people made so I could take them home,” she says. “I want them in my house. They say: ‘We have you. We’ll take them all home.’ One day my children will unwrap them and ask, ‘What have you been doing?’ I’ll say, ‘Look, it’s a long story,’ but I really want to keep things. I’m taking it. I wear it, drink it, eat it. I’m reading it. I mean, I can’t with cards. The cards are my favorite part.”

The mum-of-two says she feels “so touched and overwhelmed” by all the gifts fans have brought her ahead of her final day on Friday, January 10. “I can’t even believe what’s happening here this week,” says Kotb.

Week, which is Today billed as a “Hoda-bration,” the show kicked off with Kotb reuniting with 70 of her former Virginia Tech Tri Delta sorority sisters on Monday, January 6. Her co-host Jenna Bush Hager also teamed up with one of Kotba’s favorite authors, Charlie Mackesy, author A boy, a mole, a fox and a horse, and gave her a special picture.

On Tuesday, January 7, Kotb reconnected with the family of a woman she met through the breast cancer community (Kotb was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007) while hosting the 2016 #PinkPowerTODAY series celebrating women diagnosed with the disease. Two days later, she reunited with the couple whose wedding she officiated on Valentine’s Day 2023, and they presented her with flowers they had saved from their special day.

“I’m speechless,” Kotb says. “In your life, if you have one surprise party, it’s amazing. And until I worked here, I never had that. But when you work here, something happens. They invite your sorority sisters to come and say hello. They bring in all these amazing people that you had the privilege of interviewing. No one says, ‘I love you’ like them Today show.”

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With each passing day, Kotb wants the week to slow down.

“On Mondays, I wished for Wednesday, so I could wish for Friday, the weekend, and I thought about that all week long”, I really needed this today says the author. “This is the first week I don’t want Friday to come yet. Because that Friday will be a big sign, so I thought to myself, slow down, slow down everything.”

‘Today’ hosts (from left) Carson Daly, Craig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker on January 3, 2024.

Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Nevertheless, the journalist expects that Friday, January 10, will start like any other working day.

“Eddie will pick me up like he does every day and does every day. And we always have a playlist,” says Kotb. “I’m going to say ‘Hi’ to our security guards like I do every day, and I’m going to go see Laura and Mary, my longtime hair and makeup team, and we’re going to have deep and meaningful conversations. I’m going to pay attention, I’m going to read my scripts. I don’t know what will I do but hold out as long as I can.”

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Hoda Kotb Nov 29, 2023 on NBC’s Today Show.

Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Kotb announced in September that she would retire from Today show after 17 years — and a total of 25 with NBC. She plans to spend more time with her children and launch a wellness app and company, which will include vacations and a podcast that will launch this spring.

“Someone told me: ‘Imagine yourself on the other side. Imagine how you feel,’ says Hotb. “You feed people, you help them with this wellness company. You feel lighter, you feel inspired, you have more creativity, you slept better. And more importantly than all that, you became a better mother every day because you had to be there. So I thought about all those things.”

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Kotb’s last episode Today and Today with Hoda and Jenna will be broadcast on Friday, January 10. The Today the show airs weekdays on NBC beginning at 7 a.m. ET.

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Source: HIS Education