Christmas Lake, Christmas Valley, and nearby Peter's Sink and Peter's Creek were named for pioneer stockman Peter Christman, who grazed his cattle there and had a house at Silver Lake, to the southwest. These names were applied as early as September 29, 1877, when they were referred to by former Oregon GovernorJohn Whiteaker in a letter to the editor of the Eugene City Guard. Whiteaker himself had an interest in the fossil beds at nearby Fossil Lake, and ranching interests in the area as well. The name "Christmas" was an early corruption of the name Christman that became entrenched in the vernacular by 1900. The Christman family often spelled their name with a T although some family members would omit it and use the name Chrisman. Several examples of both spellings were found in print, some in government documents. Whiteaker himself referred to the lake as both "Christman Lake" and "Christmas Lake" in his letter to the editor, and unmistakably pinpointed the lake's location.
Penn Phillips era
In 1961, developer M. Penn Phillips laid out the townsite, including its fanciful holiday street names, the Christmas Valley Airport, a water system, a golf course, a lodge, rodeo grounds, and an artificial lake originally named Christmas Valley Lake and now called Baert Lake. Phillips aggressively promoted the community in California to young, would-be farmers and retirees; often providing free bus tours and flights and marketing the potential of the land as green and readily farmed. The company quickly sold out the parcels, though despite Phillips' claims that the community would soon have more than 5,000 residents, few actually moved there. In 1966, in an Oregon Tax Court decision about tax valuation of Christmas Lake property, Judge Edward Howell opined, "the land, at least in its present condition, is arid, dusty, windy, isolated, subject to temperature extremes." In the early 1970s, the Phillips company faced lawsuits about misrepresentation of the property and the Phillips era is usually considered a scam.
Climate
This region experiences hot and dry summers, with yearly average temp of. Very hot summers and very cold nights and winters with snow, that skew average temps. Normal highs in summers are above with nights dipping into the teens and winter record of low. The average winter low is and high. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Christmas Valley has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.
Economy
Christmas Valley is largely an alfalfa farming community. The community has a number of commercial businesses including two grocery stores, two motels, four restaurants, and a gas station. A nine-hole golf course is maintained by Christmas Valley Park and Recreation District, as is the Christmas Valley Airport, Rodeo Grounds, Community Hall, Baert Lake and the community's twice monthly publication, Desert Whispers.
