Nazim Omanovic learned before Christmas that one good turn in Vermont deserves another. He had spent years helping to build homes for Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity. Now, he’s received the keys to his own family’s new home in Burlington’s North End. Nazim, his wife, Senija, and their daughter, Nizama, 14, fled Bosnia in 1999 after being forced to live in refugee camps. The family had lived on food rationed from U.S. air drops, but somehow managed to get to Vermont.

It wasn’t easy, says The Burlinton Free Press, as Nazim stepped on a land mine getting away from Serbian paramilitary forces and suffered a crippling foot injury. But, he was still a genuine volunteer first in Vermont. The family’s new home represents the culmination of an 11-year collaboration between Habitat for Humanity and the Burlington Housing Authority. We know this family had a very Merry Christmas.