midnight
`` You are tired , Joseph , you must sleep , '' said Mary . And when he slumbered peacefully she prayed in her heart : `` I am a poor handmaiden of the Lord . The will of the Lord be done . '' It is midnight and , wakeful shepherds see a bright star . A strange star , too ; they had never seen its like before . It sparkled so brightly that the shepherds ' shadows on the plain were long . And it is said that they saw other stars approach it , and at length surround it .