I am not sure exactly what you got here, but I am guessing your Christmas Orchid may have been a Phalaenopsis?
Let me give you some general things to look at/read and perhaps that helps you a bit already.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
And here is a link to the AOS culture sheets, I would recommend the Phalaenopsis care sheet and - thinking about the baby you received from your friend, check perhaps also the Dendrobium sheet.
http://www.aos.org/Default.asp...
But, as I said, I am really only guessing here. Perhaps you might recognize another one of the cultural sheets to be a better fit. Pictures always help.
Any specific question after that - we will try to answer.
Welcome to the forum, dogpack!
Ursula