It was a late Christmas present for Hoda Kotb as it was announced on the Today Show Tuesday that she officially replaces Matt Lauer as the co-anchor of the popular morning show. Filling in for the fired Matt Lauer, she was the favorite to join Savannah Gutherie at the Today desk.

The disgraced anchor, Matt Lauer has stayed silent since the scandal broke but Kotb revealed that Lauer “said some nice words” to her in a private text message on Tuesday.

“He was sweet this morning,” she said. “Certain texts popped up, and there was one from Matt: ‘Congratulations!’ It meant the world to me to hear from him. It was really nice.”