TORONTO -- The lyric, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e a mean one, Mr. Grinch,鈥� has a very personal meaning for two New Jersey children.
Children鈥檚 author Dr. Seuss鈥� 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 鈥� decked out in their Christmas pajamas 鈥� 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: 鈥淢y kids couldn鈥檛 wait to meet the Grinch this weekend! I鈥檇 say it went well鈥� 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 鈥� shot by their father Joseph DeVito 鈥� then shows the pair quickly sprint away in terror.
Thurl Ravenscroft鈥檚 1966 song 鈥淵ou're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch鈥� can be heard playing throughout the video.
In a phone interview on Saturday, DeVito told CTVNews.ca that he 鈥渒new it was going to be epic. And I happened to catch it 鈥� it turned out perfect.鈥�
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.
鈥淚 told them, 鈥榥ow don鈥檛 be scared now,鈥� because I鈥檇 seen him all dressed up beforehand and thought, 鈥榯hat鈥檚 really good,鈥欌�� he recalled. 鈥淚 said 鈥榠t鈥檚 only a costume. Like mommy and daddy who dress up for Halloween.鈥� And they said 鈥榳e鈥檙e not going to be scared 鈥� we love the Grinch.鈥欌��
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 don鈥檛 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.
