An elderly, white-bearded man in a long hooded oxblood robe walks left in profile, bent under the weight of a large spruce Christmas tree on his shoulder, a gnarled staff in one hand and heavy leather boots trudging through snow and mud. He appears as the old-world Father Christmas, a weary rustic woodsman.

A dark wall of pine forest fills the upper two-thirds of the canvas, while pale melting snow and a dark puddle run across the foreground, giving a strong dark-over-light split. The light is dim and overcast, with the figure and snow the lightest areas. Fine linen weave, feathery brushwork in the foliage and a warm, aged varnish patina recall a nineteenth-century Realist oil painting.