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

• On Friday, Jan. 10, Hoda Kotb will co-anchor the Today show for the last time after announcing her departure in September

• Kotb tells PEOPLE, “I don't have any words,” when it comes to the way the fans have shown up for her throughout her final week

• “Nobody says, ‘I love you,’ like the Today show,” the mother of two says

Hoda Kotb’s been taking it all in during her last week at the Today show.

“It's really been a ride,” Kotb, 60, tells PEOPLE. “I keep getting lost in people's eyes. That's what I keep feeling when I see people, especially on the [Today] Plaza. They relay a story about something that happened or something they made."

"Almost every bracelet I'm wearing came from someone on the Plaza. Some has my name. 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 stuffy or somebody crocheted something beautiful, there are constant reminders.”

Related: Hoda Kotb Can't Stop Laughing After Learning Jenna Bush Hager Accidentally Threw Out Her Christmas Gift

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

“I asked our guys to roll up every sign that people made so I could take them home,” she says. “I want them in my house. They go, ‘We got you. We're going to take them all home.’ One day my kids are going to unroll them and go, ‘What did you used to do?’ I'll be like, ‘Look, it's a long story,’ but I really want to hold onto things. I'm taking it. I'm wearing it, I'm drinking it, I'm eating it. I'm reading it. I mean, I can't with the cards. The cards are my favorite part."

The mom of two says she feels “so touched and overwhelmed” by all of the tributes fans have brought her ahead of her last day on Friday, Jan. 10. “I can't even believe what's happening here this week,” Kotb says.

The week, which the Today show deemed a “Hoda-bration”, kicked off by reuniting Kotb with 70 of her former Tri Delta sorority sisters from Virginia Tech on Monday, Jan. 6. Her co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager also teamed up with one of Kotb’s favorite authors, Charlie Mackesy, author of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, and gifted her a special painting.

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

“I don't have any words,” Kotb says. “In your lifetime, if you get one surprise party, that's incredible. And until I worked here, I never had that. But when you work here, something happens. They invite your college sorority sisters to come and say goodbye. They bring on all these incredible people who you had the privilege of interviewing. Nobody says, ‘I love you,’ like the Today show.”

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With every passing day, Kotb finds herself wanting the week to slow down.

“On Monday, I used to wish for Wednesday, so I could wish for Friday, the weekend, and I was thinking about it in all the weeks,” the I Really Needed This Today author says. “This is the first week that I don't want Friday to come just yet. Because that Friday is going to be a big marker, so I was thinking to myself, slow down, slow everything down.”

Still, the journalist expects Friday, Jan. 10, to start like any other workday.

“Eddie's going to pick me up like he does every day and has every day. And we always have a playlist,” Kotb says. “I'm going to say, ‘Hi’ to our security guards like I do every day, I'm going to go in and see Laura and Mary, my long-time 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 I'm going to do except for hold on for as long as I can.”

Related: Blake Shelton Shocks Hoda Kotb by Saying She Ran Away from Him Once — But Shuts Down Claim He 'Tried to Kiss Her'

Kotb announced in September that she’d be stepping away from the Today show after 17 years — and a total of 25 with NBC. She plans to spend more time with her children and start a wellness app and company, which will involve retreats and a podcast launching this spring.

“Someone said to me, ‘Imagine yourself on the other side. Imagine what you feel like,’” Hotb says. “You're nourishing people, you're helping them with this wellness company. You feel lighter, you feel inspired, you have more creativity, you slept better. And more importantly than all of it is, you became a better mother every day because you got to be there. So I was thinking about all those things.”

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Kotb's final episode of Today and Today with Hoda and Jenna will air on Friday, Jan. 10. The Today show airs weekdays on NBC beginning at 7 a.m. ET.

Read the original article on People