Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The John Deere dealership isn’t likely the first place people think of when they think of Christmas.
That’s a truth that our marketing team kept returning to when debating what we should do to recognize 2025 Christmas season. At the same time, we kept referring to meaningful memories from Christmases past that had a green and yellow connection.
Many of us have received farm-themed treasures on Christmas morning, or snuck cookies out of the John Deere tractor cookie jar when Santa wasn’t looking. Heck, we remember unwrapping John Deere toys from inside John Deere wrapping paper.
We also know the John Deere brand has some serious nostalgia. We’ve seen it in action as we’ve set the basketball courts on fire with pedal tractor races at the University of North Alabama and Jacksonville State University, and during the C.M. Newton Classic in Birmingham. Everyone from grandparents to college students remarked on the pedal tractors on display, and we had to smile – because we think they’re pretty cool, too.
It was on these two premises – the Christmas John Deere memories and the nostalgia of the legendary pedal tractor – that the concept of a storybook was born. It would be a way for us to bring a little magic with a new story that feels timeless and could be treasured for years to come.
It was on these two premises – the Christmas John Deere memories and the nostalgia of the legendary pedal tractor – that the concept of a storybook was born. It would be a way for us to bring a little magic with a new story that feels timeless and could be treasured for years to come.
But a heartfelt story wasn’t good enough. We needed a compelling story, with a kid as a hero on a quest to solve a problem. And along the way, we wanted to shine a light on the hardworking people who work to put Christmas dinner on the (cotton tablecloth-laden) table.
In Tucker’s Tree Adventure, we put our rhyming skills to the test as young Tucker sets his heart on a pedal tractor and then sets off to find a Christmas tree big enough to accommodate four wheels and two pedals.
We mapped out the different farms and farm products produced right here in Alabama and Tennessee. We debated the merits of collard greens versus corn from the farmer’s market, and we added a snow-turned-cotton twist to the story. Of course, we needed Tucker to have a ruminant companion and a ride in a Gator.
And at the end of the day, we needed Tucker to tell his friends and family about what he learned – that so much of Christmas is touched by agriculture.
Once the story was written, the hard work began. In a story that honors the time-honored tradition of farming, there was only one way to illustrate – by hand.
Our talented Graphic Designer broke out a pencil and drawing paper and set to work to create the characters and scenes. And as summer turned to fall, crops dried in the fields and combines cranked on early harvest mornings, and Tucker and his story came to life under the careful hand of Logan Mae Stone.
Once the scenes were drawn, they were re-drawn, by hand, digitally. Traced over lines became carefully colored scenes. Prose laid across skies and fields, and finally, the story was ready.
We’re so excited to share Tucker’s story with you. We hope it will be a tale that is read in rooms full of family, on Christmas Eve before a pedal tractor is found under the tree, or in classrooms of kids eager to learn about farming.
You can bring Tucker’s story home from your local TriGreen Equipment. We can’t wait to hear how you make Tucker’s story your own.