When Joseph Went to Bethlehem

• “When Joseph went to Bethlehem” (put scarf over head to represent period head covering for Joseph or Mary)
• “I think he took great care, to place his tools” (put scarf on lap and pretend to place tools on it then fold one side over)
• “and close his shop” (used hand motion like two doors coming together to close)
• “and leave no shavings there” (use the scarf as a dusting rag and pretend to dust off a work bench)
• “He urged the donkey forward” (put scarf tight between both hands and move them together in one direction, like a rope pulling a donkey)
• “then with Mary on its back” (put scarf on head to represent Mary now)
• “and carried bread and goat cheese in a little linen sack” (pull the four corners of the scarf together like it is holding something and hold the very top).

VERSE 2

• “I think there at the busy inn” (here you could act as though you are trying to see through a crowd looking from side to side as if to see around someone in front of you, then up on tippy toes)
• “that he was meek and mild” (put the scarf on head to represent Joseph again, then fold arms and bow head as if in prayer to show meekness)
• “and awed to be the guardian of Mary’s sacred child” (fold the blanket like you would if you were wrapping up a baby, and cradle the scarf bundle in the elbow of one arm kind of rocking)
• “perhaps all through the chilly hours” (wrap scarf like a shawl and act cold) “he soothed the swaddling bands”
• “he smoothed the swaddling bands” (hang the scarf with one hand while stroking it with the other)
• “and Jesus felt the quiet strength of JosephS gentle hands” (wad the scarf back up and put it back in the bend of your elbow like a baby, and stroke it gently)

VERSE 3

• “and close beside the manger bed” (scarf baby still in arm)
• “he dimmed the lantern’s light” (scarf held up by two top corners in front of face like a curtain)
• “and held the little Jesus close upon that holy night” (scarf in a bundle like a baby cradled and rocked in the arm again) ​