Jenna Bush Hager has been trying her best to cope with Hoda Kotb‘s imminent retirement from Today. But the daytime host has been nothing but honest about how the news has shaken her.
During Wednesday’s broadcast of Hoda & Jenna, the co-hosts debuted their first-ever — and, unfortunately, last — Christmas ornaments bearing the show’s logo.
“This is a collector’s item because this is our first and last, baby!” Bush Hager joked, referring to the fact that Kotb will not be on the show next Christmas. “The Hoda & Jenna Christmas ornament. One year and one year alone.”
Kotb cooed over the bright pink ornament. “Aw, I want to save it for my tree,” she told Bush Hager.
“You better,” Bush Hager replied. “It’s pretty. It’s so nice. Next year, we’re just gonna cross this out,” she added, pointing to Kotb’s name as they laughed. “Oh, I’m glad I can joke these days anyways, y’all.”
She cracked another joke about Kotb’s retirement later on in the broadcast during their interview with Someday Somewhere star Bridget Everett. They aired a clip from the HBO show that showed Everett’s co-star bursting into tears over a bowl of queso dip.
“I feel like that’s all of America when Hoda said she was leaving us,” Everett cracked, prompting Bush Hager and Kotb to laugh. She later joked that the next thing she has planned after Someday Somewhere ends is a hosting stint on Today with Bridget & Jenna.
“By the way, if you don’t think I buried my face in queso for a couple of days, y’all don’t know me at all,” Bush Hager said.
Many tears were shed on Today after Kotb announced the shocking news. But Bush Hager and Kotb shared an incredibly emotional moment during the fourth hour of Today as they reflected on their years together.
“When she told me, my first reaction, it was from my gut. It was almost crazy,” Bush Hager admitted. “I said ‘No, you can’t leave.’ Because what we have here with all of these people… What’s between us is magical and powerful and it feels like that here.”
Kotb admitted that the decision “weighed a lot” on her because of the “amazing” relationship she built with Bush Hager over the years.
She became emotional as she told her co-host, “It’s your turn. And whoever sits in this seat is gonna have the easiest job in the world because they’re sitting next to you! … You are the bright light, you always have been.”
Today with Hoda & Jenna airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.