What a week to be a citizen of the American republic, living in the midst of northern Europe's (constitutional) monarchies! On Friday morning, the British royal family will be celebrating its crown prince's wedding; and then from Friday evening through Saturday night, the Dutch royal family will be observing its annual Queen's Day festivities.

It's all utterly foreign -- the hysteria over the royal families and all their comings and goings -- but I have to confess that it's somehow fascinating, at the same time.

There's something charming about the Old World traditions... the story-book imagery... the inborn sense of familial loyalty and its corresponding national symbolism (which seem quite a different breed than the American patriotic ideals with which I grew up). Sometimes I find myself genuinely wistful for the lack of such a royal tradition in the United States of America... And then other times, I think it's just plain silly.

This weekend, though, we're going to join in the revelry.

On Friday morning, Marci is planning to make tea and scones and watching the British royal wedding with Olivia (and possibly some other lady-friends) -- essentially re-enacting the scene from her own childhood when her mother went out of her way to borrow a television (since they didn't have one of their own at the time) and share in the special mother-daughter experience of watching the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. Marci was six at the time Charles and Diana's royal wedding, and coincidentally Olivia is also six at the time of William and Kate's royal wedding -- so it's pretty cool to see the way things line up in that regard.

Then on Saturday, we'll get to celebrate Queen's Day with a million other Amsterdammers and yet another million out-of-towners. Elliot is already planning to dye his hair orange on one side and striped red-white-and-blue on the other side (prior to a long-established plan for shaving it all off on the following day). We still don't have all our plans worked out for exactly how we'll take part in the festivities this year... But in any event, it's always a spectacle.

How are you planning to celebrate the upcoming "Royal Weekend?"