Christmas Lake

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Minnesota DNR map of Christmas Lake

Christmas Lake is a spring-fed lake covering approximately 257 acres in the western Minneapolis suburb of Shorewood. The lake is crossed by the border of Hennepin and Carver counties, with most of the area lying within the jurisdiction of the former. Christmas Lake is known for its exceptional water clarity, the best in the Minneapolis metropolitan area, with a DNR reported clarity level of 18.75 ft. This clarity can be attributed to the fact that Christmas Lake is a spring fed lake with a sandy bottom. Although relatively small in area, Christmas Lake becomes very deep very quickly, with a maximum depth of 87 ft, forming the basin of a depression that extends all along the rim of the lake and is known as the Ridge. The steep nature of the shoreline means that many houses are built far above the lake, and have railed motorized carts to provide access to the docks at the water level.

Although Christmas Lake is located very near to the much larger and more populated Lake Minnetonka, the lake culture is much different, with fewer powerboats and jetskis, although this is slowly changing. Christmas Lake is connected to Lake Minnetonka by a controversial underground canal, which is used to raise the water level of Lake Minnetonka during droughts. Many Christmas Lake homeowners fear that this canal will allow the introduction of harmful algaes and general dirt into the Lake, such as Eurasian water milfoil, which will damage its remarakably pristine state. Christmas Lake is home to a number of native and introduced species of fish, the most prevalent of which are largemouth bass, bluegill and pumkinseed sunfish, crappie, northern pike, carp, and rainbow trout. However, due to the small size of the lake, the fish do not generally grow to large sizes.

Christmas Lake falls under the jurisdiction of the city of Shorewood, Minnesota, although much informal control is maintained by the closeknit community of homeowners, under the agis of the Christmas Lake Homeowners Association. Most residents on the lake know one another, and there are many occasions for community fraternization, most notably the annual Fourth of July boat parade, where boatowners turn their boats into water-borne floats, and parade from dock to dock along the shoreline.