Christmas cracker tradition of wearing festive hats is believed to date back to Roman times and the Saturnalia celebrations, which also involved decorative headgear. Christmas crackers are also associated with Knut's parties, held in Sweden at the end of the Christmas season. The "Oxford English Dictionary" records the use of "cracker bonbons" and the pulling of "crackers" from 1847. Tradition tells of how Tom Smith of London invented crackers in 1847. He created the crackers as a development of his bon-bon sweets, which he sold in a twist of paper (the origins of the traditional sweet-wrapper). As sales of bon-bons slumped, Smith
Tom Baker (Nebraska politician) Tom Baker (Nebraska politician) Tom Baker (born 1948) is a politician from the U.S. state of Nebraska. He served two terms in the Nebraska Legislature from 1999 to 2007. Baker was born on August 24, 1948, in McCook, Nebraska. He graduated from Trenton High School in 1966, and from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1971 with a B.S. in agronomy with a secondary teaching certificate in science. In the 1998 election, he defeated Steven D. Smith for the seat in the legislature vacated by Owen Elmer, representing the 44th Nebraska legislative district. In 2002, he ran unopposed for re-election. Nebraska's