Britney Preps for Holidays – and a Family

By Stephen M. Silverman

11/08/2004 at 08:00 AM EST

With her new CD, My Prerogative, due in stores Tuesday, Britney Spears has a new message for fans posted on her Web site. Her own prerogative, she writes, is to spend less time focusing on her career and more on "myself, my husband, Kevin, and starting a family."

"This is the happiest I've ever been in my life," writes Spears, just back from her Fiji honeymoon with husband Kevin Federline. She goes on to explain that she and Kevin are getting their new California beach house in shape for the holidays. "I can't wait to have my own Christmas tree in my very own house," she says.

Federline, 26, and Spears, 22, married on Sept. 18 at a private home in the San Fernando Valley and promptly purchased a new love nest to call home: a $6.7 million, 9,000-sq.-ft., eight-bedroom, eight-bath, gated Malibu spread. The 1.5-acre property also includes a garden, pool with spa, tennis court and gym, as well as an outdoor kitchen.

Decorating the new pad isn't just in anticipation of Santa, however: "Because when we decide to start a family, everything in it needs to be perfecto!" Britney writes. "I love decorating; it's very therapeutic for me. I believe your house is a reflection of yourself, so I want anything in mine to be exquisite."

As for her career, "I don't think I'll do another tour for a couple of years," she says. "At this point and time, what I want is not my face on every cover, put someone else's instead. I really want to help other people achieve their dreams and possibly even develop new artists. Everything is in the very beginning stages, and it feels great to just think about different opportunities that I'm interested in pursuing."