TORONTO -- The lyric, âYouâre a mean one, Mr. Grinch,â has a very personal meaning for two New Jersey children.
Childrenâs author Dr. Seussâ famous, grouchy hater-of-all-things Christmas made an appearance at a family photoshoot and briefly terrified two young children.
On Monday, mother Ashley Bohl shared a , which caught the entire incident in slow motion. Her children Joseph and Gemma â decked out in their Christmas pajamas â were posing on a yellow chair in front of a decorated Christmas tree in Atco, N.J.
The video, which has garnered nearly 30,000 views, was jokingly captioned with: âMy kids couldnât wait to meet the Grinch this weekend! Iâd say it went wellâ with a crying laugh emoji.
The clip shows the shoot going normally but the children quickly pop up from the chair once they catch a glimpse of the Grinch beginning to creep around the tree. And the video â shot by their father Joseph DeVito â then shows the pair quickly sprint away in terror.
Thurl Ravenscroftâs 1966 song âYou're a Mean One, Mr. Grinchâ can be heard playing throughout the video.
In a phone interview on Saturday, DeVito told CTVNews.ca that he âknew it was going to be epic. And I happened to catch it ⌠it turned out perfect.â
His wife set up the prank with her friend, the photographer, and an acquaintance who dressed up as the Grinch. Devito explained his children knew someone would be dressing up and popping up as the classic character, but not necessarily when.
âI told them, ânow donât be scared now,â because Iâd seen him all dressed up beforehand and thought, âthatâs really good,ââ he recalled. âI said âitâs only a costume. Like mommy and daddy who dress up for Halloween.â And they said âweâre not going to be scared â we love the Grinch.ââ
But as they were sitting down, DeVito whipped out his camera seconds before the Grinch popped out.
In the days that followed the viral video, dozens of commenters have accused the couple of traumatizing their children. Although DeVito says they like to joke around with their children, they donât prank them at all.
And the family wished their critics looked at the which showed the Christmas photoshoot was a complete success, with the children smiling, high-fiving and eating cookies with the Grinch.