As a historic, Kansas City landmark, The Raphael Hotel is rooted in tradition. And since 1975, it has won the hearts of many who seek a unique holiday tradition with family and friends - a place where they can revel in the magic of the Country Club Plaza while embarking on meaningful family traditions. This holiday season, three longtime hotel guests shared special memories, holiday stories and family traditions passed down from generation to generation. This is part three of three. Part 3: Calm Before the Holiday Storm  Thanksgivings at the Raphael have been a family tradition for 3 generations (roughly 40 years) for Ricky's family. The tradition started with Ricky's grandparents, Jeen and Don Lysaught, who lived in Prairie Village and first got the suite (room 911, on the top floor with a plaza view) in approximately 1979. They opened the room to their kids to come and enjoy the plaza lights. Through the years, their adult children took over the rooms, always the same two rooms, 911 and 912. Families would take turns using the rooms and would include as many cousins and kids as possible to kick off the holidays. Recently, the room has transferred from the adult kids to the adult grandchildren, and Ricky is the ringleader of that group. Last year, Ricky's mom and dad gave him the room as a Christmas gift and told him that it was his tradition to carry forward. A few weeks later, his mom was diagnosed with cancer. She spent all of this year fighting cancer and she passed away over Labor Day. 'Our family planned to have a low key gathering this year at the Raphael on Thanksgiving as a way of remembering her and in an effort to get through this first set of holidays without her,' said Ricky. 'She loved the plaza, the plaza lights tradition, the Raphael, and the time together as a family in rooms 911 and 912. In a way, it will be tough to be there. But in another way, we couldn't imagine being anywhere else.' For Ricky Paradise, each time him and his wife Shae and their family return to The Raphael from their home in Overland Park, Kansas, he envisions his grandparents welcoming his parents and himself as a child. The tradition has morphed over the years, but he can remember being there as a toddler, and the tradition at the time was for all of the little kids to jump on the bed and watch TV while the parents sat out in the family room. When all of the toddler cousins grew to be college kids, the tradition got a little wilder, as the teens would sneak up drinks and fill the bathtub with ice and beer. Now, the college kids have all become parents, and the rooms are filled with toddlers again. His kids love jumping on the beds, watching a Christmas movie, taking a bubble bath and ordering room service in the morning. The traditions have come full circle. 'It is the calm before the holiday storm,' said Ricky. 'A weekend to stop, enjoy the lights and soak in some family time together before the busyness of the holiday season takes over.' It's not just the tradition that brings Ricky and his family to the Raphael Hotel every year, though. 'The staff at the Raphael is amazing, and now that I am an adult, I understand that they are busy working, away from their families so that we can have these special memories with our family,' said Ricky. 'Their hospitality is remarkable and they have a heart for service. They deserve a huge thank you from my family.' Thank you to Ricky and Shae for sharing their story!Â
