Can I get the process of deactivating your Facebook account explained?

[Quince, the Really Cool Guy]

I'm about to start a very important year in college, so I'm thinking of deactivating my Facebook account. However, I cannot get very descriptive information about the subject on FB's help site.

By deactivation, I mean I only want to leave the site temporarily, for example I'd like to reactivate it during school breaks like during Christmas or something.

Can someone talk me through the process of deactivating and reactivating my account? More importantly, when I reactivate it, will everything on my profile and such be completely intact and be as I left it, like the stuff in my "Info" tab, my "Likes" (both Like pages and post or comment Likes), previous posts, and everything?