In an incredibly generous gesture, Moxsie gave us each an iPad for a holiday gift. Admittedly, I’m a bit of an Apple brat, but believe me when I say my personal: iPod Video, iPod Touch, iPhone 3G S, and MacBook Pro, and my work MacBook and iPad do not make me the most obnoxious of iThing hoarders.

Coming off of a week of Oui Oui Macaron, Paulette macarons, and Occasional Macaron Shop, the first thought that ran through my head when I saw the red and white gift boxes was, “Oh God, not more macarons.”

But nope, we were all completely surprised to hear the words “standard issue Moxsie iPads” fall from our CEO’s lips.

Free iPads for working at Internet Retailer’s Hot 100 E-Retailers of 2011? Hell, yeah!

After from the childlike opening of boxes (only mildly subdued by the fact that it’s Apple, so for some reason yuppie adults exercise a certain degree of restraint), the logical next step in receiving an iPad is figuring out how to outfit it. (Unless, of course, you’re of the “But it’s the form factor!” ilk, in which case your iPad goes naked.)

Jackie and I almost immediately went toward the book aesthetic. Conveniently, she had sent me links for BookBook before, and we both ogled the analog beauty of it all. She scored a red BookBook, and as I was trying hard to not spend (It would have been an unexpected gift for myself during the height of the season of gifting for other people.) I curbed it for an arbitrary non-holiday month: February.

Well, that didn’t last long. A couple of hours after Jackie ordered her BookBook, I looked up iPad cases on Etsy and got hooked on the shop Pad & Quill. The Moleskine-inspired finish stands out a lot against the other sewn, padded pieces you’ll find when you search “iPad.” It was just a matter of time until I put in my $55. About a week, to be exact.

Like other gadget nerds, I read a lot of reviews in anticipation of the Pad & Quill’s arrival. Ju-ust in case some egregious flaw in design might come up in between Add to Cart and UPS. Wired reconfirmed my decision, even in comparison to the Bay-beloved DODOcase, though numerous sources started getting me worried about the weight of the wooden “pages” in the Pad & Quill. But anyway, I ordered it on the 27th and it arrived much more speedily than I had expected for a holiday delivery – on the 30th!

It’s a small win to leave work early on the day before your birthday and come home to this. Yep, even the box is printed with a book theme, and the details are unmatched by any other book-inspired iPad case I’ve seen. My concerns about the weight? All for naught! It’s so light. It’s even lighter than the Powis iCase I’ve come across recently.

Observe the hand bookbinding, the finely carved access to buttons, the bookmark removal ribbon, Cut the Rope, Bejeweled Blitz, and the nearly finished apple cider and pecan pie from The Grove.

Slight religious undertones in the company's inserts, but it's rather sweet.

Look at these two. So analog. So chic.

Going over color palettes for my yuppie badge right now.

More pics here.