words of wisdom please

Congrats for stepping into the world of digital recording. Recording has it's own unique terminology, most of which is still carried over from the days of analog. A good start would be a beginners book on recording, like the "Recording For Dummies" book. Even people who have been involved with recording for a long time can learn things from these books (I am NOT one of those people who have been involved with recording for a long time). Also use this forum. You won't find a friendlier bunch of people who will help you. Don't expect to be an expert in recording in a few hours or days, or even weeks. Be patient and ask questions, no matter how stupid you think the question is.

You should be able to plug a mic or electric guitar straight into your laptop. I had to get some adaptors from Radio Shack to allow my 1/4" plugs to be plugged into the 1/8" inputs on my computer.

One thing that will help people here help you is to tell us what kind of computer you have, and what kind of soundcard it has. Every computer is different, so that will help a lot. Don't feel bad if you don't know what soundcard you have, a lot of new users don't. We'll even tell you how to do that. Also search this forum for "advice for newbies" threads. They will help you a lot as well.

That's a nice gift. I like August birthdays(mine's the 22nd, Virgo enough to think about it, and leo enough to be stubborn about it.) The soundcards on most laptops are not really great, and if you can afford it, you can get external devices like the Line6 Toneport that will allow you to connect a mic or guitar with pretty decent sound. Realistically, you are looking at around $200 for an ok mic and an interface(combination soundcard and adapter).
Check in here with any questions you have, this is a good bunch.

I'm not calling you a dummy....but I would also suggest "Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies". I read it when I first started home recording and I even keep it as a reference. It's an excellent book - well written and easy to understand.

What kind of mic do you have?

Save your money with a laptop and when you can afford it get an E-MU 1616M it will be all you need for a lon g long time, in the mean time to get a decent start off go to a guitar venter or Online music store and buy a cheap mixer like a behringer 802 and we can help you get things rolling.