Celebrity Celebrity Family Celebrity Pregnancy Hoda Kotb's Fiancé Joel Schiffman Constructs Playhouse for Daughters Haley and Hope on Christmas Hoda Kotb and fiancé Joel Schiffman were joined by their daughters Haley, 4, and Hope, 2, on Christmas Day, alongside the Today co-anchor's mother and sister By Georgia Slater Georgia Slater Georgia Slater is a staff editor on the Parents team at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2018. Her work has previously appeared in USA Today and Washington Life Magazine. People Editorial Guidelines and Nicholas Rice Nicholas Rice Nicholas Rice is a Senior Editor for PEOPLE Magazine. He began working with the brand as an Editorial Intern in early 2020, before later transitioning to a freelance role, and then staff positions soon after. Nicholas writes and edits anywhere between 7 to 9 stories per day on average for PEOPLE, spanning across each vertical the brand covers. People Editorial Guidelines Published on December 25, 2021 03:14PM EST Photo: Hoda Kotb/Instagram; Inset: Michael Loccisano/Getty Hoda Kotb is spending Christmas surrounded by family. The Today co-anchor, 57, enjoyed the holiday on Saturday alongside her two daughters, Hope Catherine, 2, and Haley Joy, 4, with fiancé Joel Schiffman, plus her mother, Sameha Kotb, and sister, Hala Kotb. In a sweet photo shared by Hoda on Instagram, Schiffman can be seen on the floor attempting to put together a playhouse for his two little ones. In a follow-up shot, Hoda is then captured joining her husband-to-be, as the duo share a laugh together. "They said set up was simple.. still laughing xo," the mother of two wrote alongside the cute post. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. In another Instagram post, Hoda shared pictures of her family all in matching pajamas as they opened up presents on Christmas morning. In one photo, Haley is seen standing in the kitchen next to a batch of pancakes, as Hope smiles beside a new toy baby. Another shows Haley posing beside grandmother Sameha. Hoda Kotb Celebrates Thanksgiving with Daughters Haley and Hope: 'Hope Your Turkey Day Was Everything' Hoda recently spent quality time with her loved ones on Thanksgiving, where she gathered with her family for dinner. "Hope your turkey day was everything xx," she captioned an Instagram post featuring her kids, in which she also shared a photo of the family's impressive turkey. In October, Hoda appeared on the first-ever episode of PEOPLE's new podcast Me Becoming Mom, where she opened up about her journey to parenthood and shared the emotional story of when she realized she wanted children. Hoda Kotb Instagram "I was actually with a girlfriend and we were walking down a street and I remember it like it was yesterday," she recalled. "...Because I had never shared it with anyone that I had wanted — I still yearned for [having children] because it seemed like wanting to go to the moon, it's not happening, so don't even bring it up." "So she said, 'Well, neither of us really wanted to have children.' I looked at her and I said, 'Well, I do.' I didn't say did, I said I do. She looked at me and she goes, 'What?' I started crying. I said, 'I do. I do.' I said it out loud, 'I do,' " Hoda told host Zoë Ruderman, Head of Digital at PEOPLE. "It was so weird. It was an everyday moment that turned into an epiphany and I had never spoken it," she added. Hoda, who later welcomed her two daughters via adoption with Schiffman, said it wasn't until that moment when she "said it out loud" that she realized she had to become a mother. Close