Calling All Photographers!!

My Father-In-Law is getting us a camera for Christmas and I need help! I have no idea what the best Digital SLR cameras are or even what features I should look for.

I'm hoping that some of you may be able to help me figure out what types of things you have found necessary and what features we should not worry about. We also aren't set on any particular brand or model, so if you've had good or bad experiences with any of them, or maybe are loyal to a certain brand for some reason, I'd love if you would share!

Keep in mind that I'm totally a photography novice and this will be basically the camera that I "learn" with, so I don't really want anything super crazy nice, expensive, or hard to use.

I also am not sure if most DSLR's come with a lens or not. Can someone shed some light on this for me or perhaps explain? From what I've seen several of the lower-priced cameras include a lens, but some don't so I'm not sure. Oh, also, have I mentioned that I don't know what I'm doing?

I looked online at consumer reviews last night and it looks like there are 3 or 4 models that are consistently recommended, but I thought I'd ask all my lovely readers what their opinions are, since I know some of you are crazy good photographers!

Anyways, thanks in advance for your help! Oh, and if you know any super-awesome photographers who don't read my blog that would be able to help, send them my direction! I can use all the advice I can get.