"Nightmare" for Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart would rather spend the holiday season in jail than wait for the outcome of an appeal that is prolonging her "nightmare".

In a light-filled room at the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/04/25/28029.html' target=_blank>Manhattan hub of her gracious-living empire, Stewart, 63, said she had sent a letter to her sentencing judge asking that she start serving her five-month sentence as soon as possible.

"I must reclaim my good life," she said. "I must return to my good works."

The unusual decision to turn herself in to authorities while lawyers work to clear her name would give her "closure" and would help "put this nightmare behind me and (let me) get on with my life and living".

Stewart will miss &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/world/2001/10/19/18557.html ' target=_blank>Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year - the times of the year when her entertaining ideas are put into practice.

"I would like to be back as early in March as possible in order to plant the new spring garden and to truly get things growing again," she said, the Australian reported.